ANTIDEPRESSANT ACTIVITY OF METHANOL LEAF EXTRACT OF ZIZIPHUSMAURITIANA LAM IN SWISS ALBINO MICE

Abstract

The leaves of Ziziphus mauritiana have been reported to be used in the management of depressive illnesses in
traditional medicine. The present study aimed at investigating the antidepressant activity of the methanol leaf extract
of Ziziphus mauritiana (25, 50,100 and 200 mg/kg) using tail suspension (TST) and forced swim tests (FST) while
the effect of the extract on recognition memory, motor coordination, and exploration activity was also evaluated
using novel object recognition (NORT), beam walking assay (BWAT) and open field tests (OFT) respectively in
mice. The LD50 of the extract was found to be above 5000 and phytochemical constituents such as flavonoids,
cardiac glycoside, and alkaloids were present. The extract significantly decreased the duration of immobility in the
TST and FST and produced insignificant change in exploratory activity and motor coordination in OFT and BWAT
when compared with the control group. The methanol leaf extract of Ziziphus mauritiana possesses antidepressant
property.