Evaluation of Antidepressant-like Effect of Clitoria ternatea Linn.

Abstract

Depressive disorder is a prevalent psychiatric disorder, which affects 21% of the world population. The presently using drugs can impose a variety of side-effects including cardiac toxicity, hypopiesia, sexual dysfunction, body weight gain, and sleep disorder. Ayurvedic medicine may be a powerful weapon given by our nature to cure disease. Considering the importance of plants as sources of drugs even today people are adopting different herbal drugs for the treatment of assorted diseases. During the last decade, there is a growing interest in the therapeutic effects of natural products on mental disorders. This study planned to assess antidepressant like activity of methanolic extract of Clitoria ternatea Linn. (fabaceae). Soxhlet extraction method was used for methanolic extraction. Antidepressant activity was studied using forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST). Two doses 200 and 400 mg/kg of methanolic extract of flower were selected for testing. Imipramine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) were used as the reference standard drugs. Methanolic extract of Clitoria ternatea flower significantly reduced immobility time in both TST and FST. Extract increased the climbing behavior in FST, which is similar to effect observed with imipramine. The results of this study suggest that antidepressant like effect of Clitoria ternatea seems to be mediated by an increase in norepinephrine level in synapses. However further study is needed to understand mechanism of action and to isolate the active component responsible for antidepressant like activity.