EVALUATION OF ANTI-DEPRESSANT ACTIVITY OF BOUGAINVILLEA SPECTABILIS IN WISTAR ALBINO RATS

Depression disorder has significant potential morbidity and mortality, contributing to suicide, incidence and adverse outcomes of medical illness, disruption in interpersonal relationships, substance abuse, and lost work time. The present study was designed to study the anti-depressant activity of the leaves extract of Bougainvillea spectabilis using forced swim test and tail suspension test on Swiss albino Rats. The anti-depressant activity of the leaves of Bougainvillea spectabilis was assessed using Chronic Unpredictable Mild-Stress (CUMS) induced depression in Rats. The animals were treated with the methanolic extract of leaves of Bougainvillea spectabilis orally at two doses of 100; 200mg/kg body weight for eight days after CUMS induced depression in Rats. The results demonstrate that ethanolic extract of Bougainvillea spectabilis has got anti-depressant potential. The study showed that the extract of Bougainvillea spectabilis had significant antidepressant activity. The Microsoft excel was used to calculate the mean ± SEM and one way ANOVA followed by turkey multiple comparison test were used to analyzed the results. The extract presented significant antidepressant activity in Rats (p<0.05). This study was conducted to explore the antidepressant activity of leaves extracts of plant Bougainvillea spectabilis in CUMS induced Rats.

Keywords: Bougainvillea spectabilis, Antidepressant activity and forced swim test.