Pharmacological Evaluation for Antianxiety an...

Pharmacological Evaluation for Antianxiety and Antidepressant Effect of Polyherbal Formulation

Author Name : Parth Vaibhav, Ankit Vashist, Rajesh Kumar Sharma, Ashish Kumar Sharma

ABSTRACT Nowadays, anxiety and depression are the most prevalent illnesses. Because both can occasionally be present together or because one predisposes the other, they are not only challenging to diagnose but also challenging to treat. In addition, these medications have a high side effect profile; as a result, there is a great deal of potential for using herbal medications to treat these conditions. The polyherbal formulation (PF), which contains four extracts of medicinal plants—Nyctanthes arbortristis, Hippophae salcifolia, Ocimum tenuiflorum, and Withania somnifera—was tested for its antidepressant effects by measuring how much the rats' stressed-out behaviour and neurotransmitter levels decreased (FST). In this study, the PF treatment group (100, 200, and 400 mg kg−1) showed significantly less altered behavioural parameters (P < 0.05) than the model control group (FST), which was similar to the standard drug treated group (10 mg kg−1). In the brains of the stressed rats, PF and sertraline significantly (P < 0.05) increased the levels of neurotransmitters like noradrenalin, acetylcholine, dopamine, and serotonin while decreasing the levels of oxidant and monoamine oxidase. In the stressed rats, PF and sertraline were also implicated in the generation and reduction of antioxidants. As demonstrated by the formulation's ability to reduce force swim stress, induce immobility in rats, and return biogenic amines to normal levels in the rat brain as a whole, the results showed that the polyherbal formulation exhibited significant antidepressant activity.