Abstract
Background: Anxiety is an unpleasant state of inner turmoil often accompanied by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. There is some evidence in traditional medicine for the effectiveness of Urtica urens in the treatment of anxiety in humans. The present study was designed to study anxiolytic property of aqueous extracts of Urtica urens; an important and commonly used for its medicinal properties belongs to urticaceae family. Methods: The anxiolytic activity was evaluated with the adult mice by hole board test, and the light-dark box test, and motor coordination with the rota rod test. The efficacy of the plant extract (100–400 mg/kg) was compared with the standard anxiolytic drug diazepam (1 mg/kg i.p.). Results: The extract increased the time spent in the brightly-lit chamber of the light/dark box, as well as in the number of times the animal crossed from one compartment to the other. Performance on the rota rod was unaffected. In the hole board test, the extract significantly increased both head-dip counts and head-dip duration. Urtica urens, in contrast to diazepam, had no effect on locomotion. Conclusions: These results provides support for anxiolytic activity of Urtica urens, in line with its medicinal traditional use, and may also suggest a better side-effect profile of Urtica urens relative to diazepam.
Highlights
Anxiety disorders became a very important area of research interest in psychopharmacology; Anxiety is defined as “a state of intense apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation, often to a degree that normal physical and psychological functioning is disrupted” [1]
Following oral administration aqueous extract of Urtica urens at a dose of 2000 mg/kg, P.O., animals were observed for signs of toxicity such as convulsions, hypothermia, hyperactivity, and grooming continuously for 2 h and for mortality up to 24 h after administration of the doses
Urtica urens at the dose of 200 mg/kg and diazepam (1 mg/kg) induced a significant increment of the time spent by mice on the illuminated side of the apparatus compared to the respective control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), without significantly affecting other parameters (Figure 2, 3)
Summary
Anxiety disorders became a very important area of research interest in psychopharmacology; Anxiety is defined as “a state of intense apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation, often to a degree that normal physical and psychological functioning is disrupted” [1]. There is some evidence in traditional medicine for the effectiveness of Urtica urens in the treatment of anxiety in humans. The present study was designed to study anxiolytic property of aqueous extracts of Urtica urens; an important and commonly used for its medicinal properties belongs to urticaceae family. Methods: The anxiolytic activity was evaluated with the adult mice by hole board test, and the light-dark box test, and motor coordination with the rota rod test. Conclusions: These results provides support for anxiolytic activity of Urtica urens, in line with its medicinal traditional use, and may suggest a better side-effect profile of Urtica urens relative to diazepam
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