article · Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International
This study evaluated the neuroprotective and antidepressant-like properties of an ethanolic extract from the plant Gladiolus aequinoctialis in Wistar rats. Rats subjected to chronic unpredictable mild stress for six weeks received extract doses of 25, 50, or 100 mg/kg over 38 days, alongside control groups. Administration of the extract significantly increased sucrose intake and lowered immobility times in forced swimming tests, while improving motor coordination and locomotion compared to negative controls. Biochemical analyses revealed that the extract lowered brain levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, and reduced serum stress hormone levels, including adrenocorticotropic hormone, corticotropin-releasing hormone, and corticosterone. Histological examination showed that the extract prevented tissue damage in the hippocampus, amygdala, gyrus, and cortex, indicating broad neuroprotective and antidepressant potential.
Depression causes complex disruptions to brain structure, neurotransmitter function, and hormonal regulation. Exploring medicinal plants can uncover novel mechanisms and compounds for addressing mental health conditions. This research provides evidence that an ethanolic extract of Gladiolus aequinoctialis can counteract behavioural, hormonal, and neuropathological changes associated with chronic stress, supporting its potential relevance in neuroprotective therapies.
The findings suggest potential applications in developing plant-derived therapeutics or phytomedicines for managing depressive disorders and related stress conditions. The primary users would be pharmaceutical or nutraceutical developers seeking natural product candidates. Because the findings are based entirely on early-stage preclinical testing in animal models, the research remains at a basic laboratory stage and requires extensive further testing, safety profiling, and clinical evaluation before practical use.
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Aims: Depression causes wide changes in the brain and blood parameters. This study investigated the effect of the ethanol extract of Gladiolus aequinoctialis (G. aequinoctialis) in regulation of hormones and neurotransmiiters balance in depressed Wistar rats. Methodology: Depression was evaluated using sucrose and force swim tests. None depressed adult Wistar rats were depressed using CUMS (deprivation of water, food, dark cycle and congested) for over 6 weeks. They were grouped into group of 5 rats and treated with extract at different doses (25, 50, 100 mg/kg), 5 ml/kg of distilled water (Negative control) and 1 mg/kg of diazepam (positive control) for 38 days. After treatment, the motor activities were evaluated and animals were sacrificed. Brain tissue was examined through histological examination as well as brain levels of dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT), and serum levels of, ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), CRH (cortocotropin releasing hormone) and CORT (corticosterone) were evaluated using ELISA kits. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Student-Newman-Keuls test was performed to establish the difference between groups at p<0.05. Results: Results indicated that the extract of G. aequinoctialis caused a significant increase in sucrose intake and reduction in immobility time in swimming test, motor coordination, locomotive behavior compared to the negative control (p<0.05). Extract also reduced the brain levels of DA, NE and 5-HT in depressed animals compared to non-treated. Moreover, extract significantly (p<0.05) lowered serum levels of ACTH, CRH and CORT in depressed animals. Furthermore, the extract prevented the neuropathological alteration in the hippocampus, amygdala, gyrus and cortex compared to depressed animals. Conclusion: This study therefore demonstrated that the consumption of the ethanolic fraction of G. aequinoctialis by preventing the disruption of motor activities, changes in levels of DA, NE, 5-HT ACTH, CRH and CORT in depressed rats, demonstrated it is a promising phytomedecine for the management of depression.
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DOI: 10.9734/jpri/2025/v37i107753
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