Screening of Antianxiety Activity of Abies pindrow Royle Aerial Parts

Abies pindrow Royle (Himalayan Silver Fir; Pinaceae) has been traditionally used for the treatment for anxiety but the plant has not been systematically investigated to validate its traditional claims. Thus, it was planned to investigate antianxiety activity of various extracts and fractions of A. pindrow aerial parts using elevated plus maze model (EPM). Properly identified A. pindrow aerial parts were successively and exhaustively extracted using solvents in increasing order of polarity viz., n-hexane, chloroform, methanol and water. All crude extracts were subjected to antianxiety activity at the doses of 100, 200 or 400 mg/kg, p.o. in mice. Efficacy of A. pindrow was statistically compared with the standard anxiolytic drug, diazepam (2 mg/kg, i.p.). Amongst various extracts, chloroform and methanol extract exhibited significant antianxiety activity with respect to control, and statistically equivalent to the standard drug at the dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. The bioactive methanol extract was partitioned successively using solvents in increasing order of polarity viz., n-hexane, ethyl acetate and 1-butanol. All fractions were also subjected to antianxiety activity at the doses of 25 or 50 mg/kg, p.o. in mice. Only ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) exhibited significant antianxiety activity equivalent to the standard drug at the dose 50 mg/kg. Present studies scientifically validated traditional claims of A. pindrow for antianxiety activity. Flavonoids of A. pindrow aerial parts have been suggested to play role in treating anxiety disorders.