Antidepressant and Skeletal Muscle Relaxant Activity of Methanolic Extracts of Basella alba. L

Abstract

Depression is considered as affective mood disorder which is characterized by change in mood, lack of confidence, etc. Depression is the most prevelant disorder and the symptoms associated with depression changes the neurotransmitter levels in brain such as norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. Muscle relaxant is a term usually used to refer to skeletal muscle relaxants (drugs), which act on the central nervous system (CNS) to relax muscles. These drugs are often prescribed to reduce pain and soreness associated with sprains, strains, or other types of muscle injury. Basella alba is the plant selected to use as a test drug in experimental animals. After selecting the plant, Leaves has been dried and powdered by using methanol and extracted by using soxhlet apparatus. Evaluation of anti depressant activity as well as skeletal muscle relaxant activity has been done to test the potency of the drug and to know its activity. After comparing the test drug with standard drug Diazepam results has shown that the extract has both anti depressant and skeletal muscle relaxant activities .Therefore, it is concluded that Basella alba extract has good anti depressant and skeletal muscle relaxant activity on mice.