Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 May 7:10:18.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-10-18.

Effect of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) treatment on restraint stress-induced behavioral and biochemical alteration in mice

Anil Kumar  1 , Ruchika Garg, Atish K Prakash
Affiliations

Effect of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) treatment on restraint stress-induced behavioral and biochemical alteration in mice

Anil Kumar et al. BMC Complement Altern Med. .

Abstract

Background: A stressful stimulus is a crucial determinant of health and disease. Antidepressants are used to manage stress and their related effects. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) in restraint stress-induced behavioral and biochemical alterations in mice.

Methods: Animals were immobilized for a period of 6 hr. St. John's Wort (50 and 100 mg/kg) was administered 30 minutes before the animals were subjecting to acute immobilized stress. Various behavioral tests parameters for anxiety, locomotor activity and nociceptive threshold were assessed followed by biochemical assessments (malondialdehyde level, glutathione, catalase, nitrite and protein) subsequently.

Results: 6-hr acute restraint stress caused severe anxiety like behavior, antinociception and impaired locomotor activity as compared to unstressed animals. Biochemical analyses revealed an increase in malondialdehyde, nitrites concentration, depletion of reduced glutathione and catalase activity as compared to unstressed animal brain. Five days St. John's Wort treatment in a dose of 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg significantly attenuated restraint stress-induced behavioral (improved locomotor activity, reduced tail flick latency and antianxiety like effect) and oxidative damage as compared to control (restraint stress).

Conclusion: Present study highlights the modest activity of St. John's Wort against acute restraint stress induced modification.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Jacobson l, Sapolsky R. The role of the hippocampus in feedback regulation of the hypothalamo- pituitary- adrenocortical axis. Endocr Rev. 1991;12:118–134. doi: 10.1210/edrv-12-2-118. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sherki YG, Melemed E, Offen D. Oxidative stress induced- neurodegenerative diseases: the need for antioxidants that penetrate the blood brain barrier. Neuropharmacology. 2001;40:959–975. doi: 10.1016/S0028-3908(01)00019-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Masood A, Banerjee BD, Vijayan VK, Ray A. Modulation of stress induced neurobehavioral changes by nitric oxide in rats. Eur J Pharmacol. 2003;458:138–9. doi: 10.1016/S0014-2999(02)02688-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Masood A, Banerjee BD, Vijayan VK, Ray A. Pharmacological and biochemical studies on the possible role of nitric oxide in the stress adaptation in rats. Eur J Pharmacol. 2004;493:111–5. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2004.04.018. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ray A, Masood A, Banerjee BD, Vijayan VK. Nitric oxide: a target molecule for drug development in the stress and anxiety. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2004;31:A51. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1681.2004.cep_4027.pdf.x. - DOI

Publication types

MeSH terms