Antidepressant activity of Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin by forced swim test in Swiss albino mice on chronic administration

Introduction: Depression is a neuropsychological disorder with its own course of illness which affects day to day life. Fluroquinolones has been shown some antidepressant like effect in our previous acute study. Objectives: Antidepressant activity of Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin in Swiss albino mice on chronic administration. Materials and Methods: Swiss albino mice were randomly divided in to six groups of which each weighing 20-25 gm and the groups are as follows, Group I: 1% Gum acacia, 10ml/kg served as control, Group II: Imipramine, 10mg/kg served as reference standarsd, Group III and IV, Ciprofloxacin 25 & 50 mg/kg respectively, Group V & VI, Levofloxacin, 25 & 50 mg respectively. Each mouse was administered with respective vehicle / drug one every day for 09 days, and one hour prior to experiment on 10th day. Each mouse was allowed to swim in a jar containing water making sure that its legs does not touch the bottom of the jar and it can swim by keeping its head just above the water surface. First two minute reading was not recorded but last four minutes activity was noted for mobility and immobility. Increase in the duration of mobility time and lesser the immobility time was considered that test drug is having antidepressant effect. Results and Discussion: Mean duration of immobility in Forced swim test in control group was 195.83 ± 2.31 sec, Imipramine (standard) is 147.5 ± 1.87 sec, for group III & IV pretreated with Ciprofloxacin 25mg/kg is 146 ± 3.57 sec and 50mg/kg is 175.5 ± 3.39 sec respectively, while group V & VI pretreated with Levofloxacin 25mg/kg & 50 mg/kg is 167 ± 2.60 and 185.16 ± 3.06 sec respectively. The p value for the both the test drugs in all the doses was <0.01, thus showing its significant comparable to Imipramine, the standard. Conclusion: Both Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin have shown significant antidepressant activity at the dose of 25 and 50 mg/kg respectively by forced swim test in Swiss albino mice on chronic administeration.