Antidepressant activity of fresh young shoot essential oil of Asparagus officinalis L. in mice

Asparagus officinalis L. is used to treat nervous disorders but there is a lack of scientific investigation to validate this ethnomedicinal claim.Essential oils have been reported to demonstrate central nervous system activities including antidepressant activity.Hence, this study investigated the antidepressant effect of the essential oil of Asparagus officinalis L. (EOAO).The antidepressant effect of EOAO was investigated using forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) in mice.The possible neural mechanism of its antidepressant effect was investigated using cyproheptadine, yohimbine, atropine and haloperidol on the tail suspension model.The EOAO significantly (p<0.05-0.001)decreased the immobility time of mice in FST and TST showing antidepressant effect.This effect was significantly (p<0.01-0.001)reversed by yohimbine (1 mg/kg, i.p.), atropine (1 mg/kg, i.p.), haloperidol (0.25 mg/kg, i.p), suggesting the involvement of adrenergic, cholinergic and dopaminergic signaling pathways.This study shows that essential oil of A. officinalis L. demonstrated significant antidepressant activity on the two models used and that the mechanism of its action could probably be through adrenergic, cholinergic and dopaminergic pathways.