Hooi Hoon Ang and Hung Seong Cheang
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Science Malaysia, Minden,
11800, Penang, Malaysia
Abstract: The anxiolytic effect of Eurycoma longifolia Jack in mice
was examined. Fractions of E. longifolia Jack extract produced a significant
increase in the number of squares crossed (controls=118.2+/-10.2 squares),
but significantly decreased both the immobility (controls=39.4+/-4.0 sec)
and fecal pellets (controls=12.3+/-2.1 fecal pellets) when compared with
control mice in the open-field test; they significantly increased the number
of entries (controls=6.7+/-0.5 entries) and time spent (controls=42.9+/-0.1
sec) in the open arms, but decreased both the number of entries (controls=13.2+/-0.7
entries) and time spent (controls=193.4+/-0.7 sec) when compared with the
control mice in the closed arms of the elevated plus-maze test. Furthermore,
fractions of E. longifolia Jack extract decreased the fighting episodes
significantly (controls=18.0+/-0.4 fighting episodes) when compared with
control mice. In addition, these results were found to be consistent with
anxiolytic effect produced by diazepam. Hence, this study supports the medicinal
use of this plant for anxiety therapy.
Keywords: Open-field test, Elevated plus-maze test, Anti-fighting effect