Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Background: Anxiety is an emotional condition characterized by unease, discomfort, and worry or fear about certain known or unknown potential hazards in the future. Plants have served as a useful resource for the discovery of novel medications for therapeutic purposes. Since ancient times, Rubia cordifolia (manjistha) has been valued for its therapeutic qualities. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess in Wistar albino rats the anxiolytic potential of an ethanolic extract derived from the stem of R. cordifolia . Subjects and Methods: The models elevated plus maze (EPM) and light & dark arena (LDA) were utilized to assess the anxiolytic activity. There were four groups each containing six animals: distilled water (10 mg/kg po), diazepam (2 mg/kg po), extract test dose 1 (100 mg/kg po) and extract test dose 2 (200 mg/kg po). Results: The one-way ANOVA and Tukey–Kramer multiple comparison tests were used to assess the standard error mean results. The statistical program used for data analysis was GraphPad Prism 6.0. Rats treated with the extract dose of 200 mg/kg showed significant results with more time spent in the EPM open arms (50.5 ± 3.2) and higher entries into the light arena (24.8 ± 0.5) in comparison to the control group. The anxiolytic effect observed in this study was closely comparable to the standard anxiolytic drug, diazepam 2 mg/kg (EPM: 49.7 ± 1.7 and LDA: 25.6 ± 0.4). Conclusion: The above study results suggest that the stem of R. cordifolia ethanol extract of dose 200 mg/kg possesses promising anxiolytic properties in Wistar albino rats. The aforementioned results of this study on antianxiety medications need to be confirmed by further clinical trials.
Yaşar et al. (Wed,) studied this question.