Behavioral effects of Citrus paradisi in rats

Abstract

Anxiety and depression adversely affect behavior though these conditions may be handled through environmental and dietary changes. Diet rich in flavonoids and vitamins may support reducing anxiety and depression. Depression is most common but serious illness making life miserable; however the usage of dietary and herbal complements to treat anxiety and depression had been grown by the time. The purpose of this investigation was to characterize the behavioral properties of Citrus paradisi in rats at diverse doses i.e. 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 ml/kg. Anxiolytic and antidepressant actions were particularly measured twice in 15 days through elevated plus maze, open field and forced swimming tests. C. paradisi, revealed increase in the locomotor activity and the exploratory skills of the animals, as assessed in the open-field. Indeed C. paradisi had a strong anxiolytic effect in elevated plus-maze, as assessed by an augmented number of entries and the proportion of time spent in the open arms. Moreover there was decline in duration of immobility and rise in duration of climbing during forced swimming test. At the tested doses these results suggest that C. paradisi have the potential to exert a range of CNS-mediated biological activities and thus encourage more investigations in this field.

Keywords: Citrus Paradisi; Elevated plus maze; Forced swimming test; Open field test.