Pharmacophore an International Research Journal
Background: Major depressive disorder is the most common mood disorder that is developed in 17% of the people. By 2020, the disorder will become the second cause of disability in the world. This study was conducted to investigate antidepressant and antioxidant effects of Cinnamomum zeylanicum extract in mice.
Methods: In this study, the male BALB/c mice were used. To induce depression, reserpine was administered and then fluoxetine and C. zeylanicum extract were injected to the mice. To investigate the sedative effect of the drug, rotarod test was used. Forced swim test (FST) was used to investigate depression. The free radical DPPH method was used to determine antioxidant activity of extract and the Folin–Ciocalteu method to determine phenolic, flavonoid, and flavonol compounds. Data analysis was conducted by SPSS 21.
Results: In the FST, there was a significant difference in immobility duration between 7 groups. C. zeylanicum extract in all doses decreased immobility duration in the FST. There was no significant difference in immobility duration between C. zeylanicum-treated and fluoxetine-administered groups. The antioxidant activity (IC50) of the extract was 12.82 and for phenolic, flavonoid, and flavonol compounds, it was 264.37, 27.14, and 26.25 mg/g of dried extract respectively.
Conclusion: C. zeylanicum extract, improved depression in the mice, but its effect was not dose dependent. The antidepressant effect of C. zeylanicum was also equal to that of fluoxetine. This extract has potent antioxidant activity and the antidepressant effect of this extract is likely due to its antioxidant property.
