EVALUATION OF ANXIOLYTIC ACTIVITY OF HOMEOPATHIC REMEDY ARGENTUM NITRICUM OF 30 C POTENCY AFTER CHRONIC ADMINISTRATION IN RODENTS

Anxiety affects a large number of  the population that creates an economic burden. Various traditional medicines like barbiturates, benzodiazepines and SSRI’s are used as anxiolytics but due to their potential to produce adverse effect on cognition limits their chronic use. Several homeopathic remedies are used for treating anxiety. For the first time this study was designed to determine anxiolytic activity of 30C Argentum nitricum. The remedy was compared with escitalopram. For this purpose several behavioral parameters were analyzed using head dip test, home cage activity, open field test and light and dark test. Distilled water, Argentum nitricum and escitalopram were administered orally to three groups of animals. The effects were recorded after 30^th and 60^th days of dosing. The results were compared statistically using one way ANOVA and Tuckey test was also being done for the multiple comparisons. The remedy highly significantly decreased the head dips and cage crossings after the 60^th day of dosing (p ≤ 0.001). The central squares crossings in the open field apparatus was increased significantly after 30^th days of dosing, which was highly significantly decreased after the 60^th  day of dosing when compared with day 30^th (p<0.001). The percent time spent in light compartment it was found significantly increased in comparison with control (p ≤ 0.001) after 60^th days of dosing. In conclusion, we found that Argentum nitricum possess anxiolytic profile, but the use of low doses and high dilutions is advocated to avoid any toxicity.