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068P University of Newcastle
Winter Meeting December 2004

Sedative and anxiolytic effects of four fractions of Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl in mice

M. Rabbani, S.E. Sajjadi1 & A. Jalali. Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. 1Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

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Rabbani M
Sajjadi SE
Jalali A

Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl is a native plant, which has been used as an anxiolytic and sedative in Iranian folk medicine (Amin, 1991) . In previous studies we provided evidence for the anxiolytic effects of hydroalcoholic extract of S. Lavandulifolia (Rabbani et al., 2003) . The aim of the present study was to investigate the anxiolytic and sedative effects of four fractions of this plant.

Dried and powdered aerial parts of the plant (100 g) were macerated with ethanol/water (HE), petroleum ether (PF), ethyl acetate (EF), butanol (BF) and water (AF) as described in details by Harborne (1998). Male Syrian mice (n=6-12/group; 25-30g; Pasture institute Iran) were used in the elevated plus-maze study as described in details elsewhere (Hogg, 1996) . Distribution of behaviour on the maze was calculated as percent total for both open arm entries and time spent on different maze sections for 5 min time period. Statistical analysis was performed using Student t-test with P<0.05 regarded as significant. All data are expressed as mean ± S.E.M.

As illustrated in Table 1, HE, PF, EF and AF of S. lavandulifolia significantly increased the percentage of time spent and percentage of arm entries in the open arms (P < 0.05). The butanolic fraction at 50 mg
kg-1 had no significant effects on any of the measured parameters in the EPM (Table 1). Locomotor activity was significantly decreased in animals injected with each of the four plant fractions, compared with saline treated controls.

Table 1. Behavioural parameters recorded in the plus-maze from mice treated with various doses of the S. lavandulifolia fractions.

Treatments (mg kg-1)

Open-arm times (%)

Open-arm entries (%)

Closed-arm times (%)

Closed-arm entries (%)

Normal saline

30 ± 3.7

30 ± 2.7

69 ± 3.9

72 ± 2.3

Diazepam (2.5)

67 ± 6.5*

62 ± 6.7*

33 ± 6.5*

38 ± 6.7*

HE (50)

55 ± 3.2*

49 ± 2.3*

45 ± 3.2*

51 ± 2.3*

PF (25)

45 ± 4.4*

46 ± 3.1*

55 ± 4.2*

54 ± 3.1*

PF (50)

52 ± 7.0*

43 ± 5.5*

48 ± 7.1*

57 ± 5.5*

EF (25)

41 ± 13.8*

37 ± 7.5*

59 ± 13.8*

62 ± 7.5*

EF (50)

47 ± 9.1*

43 ± 5.6*

53 ± 9.1*

56 ± 5.5*

AF (25)

32 ± 8.4

53 ± 11.6*

68 ± 8.4

46 ± 11.6*

AF (50)

55 ± 7.7*

46 ± 4.3*

45 ± 7.7*

54 ± 4.3*

BF (50)

33 ± 7.6

30 ± 6.7

67 ± 7.6

70 ± 6.7

The anxiolytic effects of HE, PF, EF and AF could be related to their content of flavonoids and terpenes, but further studies are required to determine the active ingredients of each plant fractions.

Amin, G. (1991). Popular Medicinal Plants of Iran. Tehran, p. 80.
Harborne, J.B. (1998). Phytochemical methods. 3rd ed. Chapman & Hall London, p. 4-7.
Hogg, S. (1996). Pharmacol.Biochem.Behav. 54, 21-30.
Rabbani, M. et al., (2003). J.Ethnopharmacol. 89, 271-276 .