African Journal of
Pharmacy and Pharmacology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Pharm. Pharmacol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0816
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJPP
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 2296

Full Length Research Paper

Antidepressant-like activities of Ocimum basilicum (sweet Basil) in the forced swimming test of rats exposed to electromagnetic field (EMF)

Mehdi Abdoly1, Alireza Farnam1, Fatemeh Fathiazad2, Arash Khaki3*, Amir Afshin Khaki4, Arezoo Ibrahimi5, Fatemeh Afshari5 and Hossien Rastgar6
1Department Clinical Psychiatry Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.Tabrīz, Iran. 2Department of Pharmacognosy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. 3Department of Veterinary Pathology, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran. 4Department of Anatomical Sciences, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran. 5Department of Histology, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran. 6Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Food and Drug Laboratory Research Center, Tehran, Iran.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 30 December 2011
  •  Published: 22 January 2012

Abstract

Medicinal use of basil, Ocimum basilicum, dates back to ancient times in Iran, China and India. In this study, we aimed to experiment on the antioxidative property of a herbal source (sweet basil) to protect central nervous system against oxidative damages of electromagnetic field (EMF) and it’s affective sequences. We used forced swimming test to evaluate antidepressant effect of basil extract in 30 albino male Wistar rats that had been exposed to 50 Hz, EMF for 8 weeks. At the end of 8th week, rats which have been feed with basil extract (1.5 g/kg body weight), showed decrease in immobility score (P < 0.001) and increase in swimming (P < 0.001), but not in climbing scores significantly in comparison with control group. Basil extract can act as serotoninergic antidepressants medicine to decrease depression presentation in exposed subjects to EMF.

 

Key words: Basil, depression, electromagnetic field (EMF), forced swimming test (FST).

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This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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