Evaluation of the Anti-depressant Effect of Panax vietnamensis using the Model of Neurodegeneration in Experimental Animals

Abstract

Panax vietnamensis (Araliaceae) is a medicinal plant growing in Ngoc Linh mountain in the central highland of Vietnam. The chemical composition of Panax vietnamensis contains various saponins including majonoside R2 and posseses interesting pharmacological effects. By using the Elevated Plus Maze model, swimming mice test and dark/light test, we evaluated the anti-depressant effect of Panax vietnamensis on mice and the obtained results revealed that the crude extract at 200 mg/kg showed markedly anxiolytic, anti-stress effects related to anti-depessant activity on the basis of both increasing the frequency and time of mice in the light compartment in the Dark/Light test and swimming time in the swimming capacity test.