Evaluation of antidepressant like activity of curcumin and its combination with sertraline and imipramine on mice

P. Sailaja*, SK. Karishma, G. Vijayamma, P.V. Durga Seshu Priya
Swathi College of Pharmacy, NH-5, Venkatachalam, SPSR Nellore-524320, Andhra Pradesh, India

A B S T R A C T
Curcumin (Zingiberace) popularly known as Turmeric (beauty aid, coocking spice and a dye.), is an herbaceous climber that has been widely used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of different central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Nevertheless, the available scientific information about this species is scarce and there are no reports related to its possible effect on the CNS. In this work, the effects of curcumin were evaluated in mice using behavioral tests sensitive to clinically effective antidepressant compounds. The extract (50mg/kg), administered (p.o), was able to decrease the immobility time of mice dose‐dependently when subjected to both tail suspension and forced swim tests and the effects are comparable to that of standard drugs i.e., sertraline (5mg/kg) and imipramine (15mg/kg).Neither the extracts of crcumine and sertraline, at the doses tested, produced significant effects on locomotor activity when subjected to open field behavioral test. These results demonstrated that curcummin had specifically antidepressant effects in vivo. In conclusion, the present study suggested that curcumin extracts possessed potential antidepressant effects which could be of therapeutic interest for using in the treatment of patients with depressive disorders.
Keywords: Curcumin, antidepressant activity, tail suspension test, forced swim test