Mintage Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Sciences (ISSN: 2320-3315)

Author(s): DR. HITESH GULHANE1,DR. ARUP KUMAR MISRA*2,DR. POOJA REDDY3, DR. DEEPTI PANDEY4,DR. RUCHA GULHANE5, DR. SUSHIL KUMAR VARMA

Objectives: The present study was undertaken to determine the anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects of hydroethanolic extract of Piper betle leaves commonly known as “paan”.Materials and Methods: Hydroethanolic extract of Piper betle leaves in the doses of 100,200 and 400 mg were administered orallyfor successive 14 days to young Swiss albino mice of  either  sex.  The  antidepressant  activity  was  evaluated  by  forced  swim  test  and  tail  suspension  test.  On  the other hand anti-anxiety activity  was  evaluated by light/dark exploration test and elevated plusmaze test. Imipramine 15 mg/kg was used as standard in anti-depressant models and diazepam 2 mg/kg was used as standard in anti-anxiety models.Results:Hydroethanolic  extract  of  Piper  betle  leaves  of  doses  200  and  400  mg/kg  showed  significant  activity  ascompared  with  control  in  reducing  the  immobility  time  in forced swim test and tail suspension test. On the other hand, gradual increasing dose of extract of Piper betle leaves also showed significant activity in improving anxiety of mice as compared with control in light/dark exploration and elevated plus maze test.Conclusion: Hydroethanolic  extract  of  Piper  betle  leaves  showed  anti-depressant  activity  probably  acts  through  the  mechanism  of  blocking  the  uptake  of  dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin through their respective transporters. On the other hand, anti-anxiety activity acts probably through GABA but the role is not established