Evaluation of Antidepressant Activity of Nerium Oleander Flower Extract in Albino Mice

INTRODUCTION Depression is a heterogeneous disorder that affects a person's mood, physical health and behaviour. Suicidal tendency remains one of the common outcomes of depression, with depressive illness being responsible for 60% of the death toll. OBJECTIVE To investigate Antidepressant activity of Nerium oleander flower extract (NO FE) in albino mice. METHODOLOGY Albino mice of either sex weighing 25-30 grams were used. They were divided into 5 groups with 6 animals. Normal Control, Imipramine (10mg/kg), Test NO FE (50mg/kg, 75mg/kg, 100mg/kg). Tail Suspension Test (TST) is carried out for duration of 5min. Each drug was administered initially to individual groups of mice. After 30 and 60min of drug admn each mice was suspended on the edge of a shelf 58 cm above the floor by the adhesive tape placed approximately 1 cm from tip of the tail. Mice are considered immobile only when they hang passively and are completely motionless for atleast 1 min. The duration of immobility was recorded. RESULT Results were analyzed by using statistical analysis i. e One way analysis of variance (ANOVA). CONCLUSION NO FE has shown significant antidepressant activity in TST.