ANTIDEPRESSANT-LIKE EFFECT OF THE AQUEOUS EXTRACT FROM GARCINIA INDICA FRUIT IN MICE MODELS OF DEPRESSION

ABSTRACT Depression is a common and serious mental disorder affecting 350 million people worldwide. Patients after being treated with current antidepressant drugs experience suicidal thoughts which are one of the major adverse effects caused by antidepressants. Herbal medicines have been proved to be potential therapeutic agents. In this study aqueous extract of Garcinia indica was used to evaluate for its antidepressant activity using forced swim test (FST), and tail suspension test (TST). Antidepressant effect was measured by means of decrease in the immobility duration exerted by fruit extract. As it was evident, oral administration of 50mg/kg of Garcinia indica effectively decreased the time of immobility in both TST and FST compared to control. Potentiality of Garcinia indica was almost similar to that of standard drug Imipramine in alleviating depression in both the animal models. KEY WORDS: Anti-depressant activity.