Abstract

The most common sleep disorder is insomnia and about 35% of all people suffer from this disturbance. A trend in using herbal medications for this disorder is increasing globally. Current study aimed to investigate the hypnotic characteristics of Smyrnium cordifolium Boiss (SCB) plant extract. From an experimental study, 96 healthy male Wistar rats were equally divided into 12 groups. For hypnotic evaluations, a negative control with normal saline (10 mg/kg), a positive control with diazepam (1 mg/kg) and 3 treatment groups with different dosages of plant extract (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg) were selected and injected intraperitoneally. Sleep start time and sleep duration time were then measured in different groups. For relaxant effects of the plant, a negative control with normal saline (10 mg/kg), 3 positive controls with diazepam (0.125, 0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg) and 3 treatment groups of plant extract (200, 300 and 400 mg/kg) were allocated and injected intraperitoneally. Finally, the mean time of sleeping, sleep start time and holding bar (marker of muscle relation) were compared between treatment and control groups appropriately. SCB plant extract (300 mg/kg), compared to diazepam and normal saline (N/S) shortened the sleep start time significantly (p < 0.001). All 3 dosages of SCB plant extract (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg), compared to diazepam and normal saline, increased sleep duration significantly (p < 0.001) and as the SCB dosage was increased the sleep duration was increased too. The relaxant effects of the plant extract did not indicate a significant difference. SCB plant extract as a natural product showed hypnotic effects even better than diazepam and needs to be investigated in human by further studies.

Key words: Smyrnium cordifolium Boiss, hypnotic, insomnia, relaxant, Iran. 

Abbreviation

SCB, Smyrnium cordifolium Boiss; N/S, normal saline; Ip, intraperitoneally.