Antidepressant activity of alcoholic extract of the fruits of Osmanthus fragrans lour in mice

Majority of the antidepressant drugs improve depressive symptoms, but they exert multiple unwanted side effects. The search for more efficacious and well tolerated drugs is in progress. Owning to this, the present study was designed to evaluate the antidepressant activity of alcoholic extract of the fruits of Osmanthus fragrans (AEFOF) in mice. It was evaluated using the Tail Suspension Test (TST), Forced Swimming Test (FST) and influence on spontaneous locomotor activity (SLMA) in mice. The AEFOF (75 mg kg^-1, peroral (po) and 150 mg kg^-1, po) was administered orally in separate groups of Swiss mice for 14 days in TST and FST tests and for 7 successive days in SLMA test. The AEFOF showed a dose dependant reduction in duration of immobility in mice. The dose of 150 mg kg^-1 of AEFOF significantly reduced the immobility time of mice in both FST and TST without any significance effect on locomotor activity of mice. The efficacy of extract was found to be comparable to fluoxetine (20 mg kg^-1, po). It was found to be toxicologically safe with no deaths of mice when administered orally at the dose of 2000 mg kg^-1. From the present study, it can be concluded that the AEFOF possess potent antidepressant activity as shown by the TST and FST tests and is toxicologically safe.