Foeniculum vulgare Mill (Umbelliferae)
Attenuates Stress and Improves Memory in Wister Rats
Sushruta Koppula* and
Hemant Kumar
College of Biomedical and
Health Sciences, Department of Biotechnology, Konkuk
University, Chungju, Republic of Korea.
*For
correspondence: Email:
koppula@kku.ac.kr
Tel: +82-43-840-3609; Fax:
+82-43-852-3616.
Received: 9 May 2013
Revised accepted:
8 July 2013
Tropical Journal of
Pharmaceutical Research, August 2013; 12(4): 553-558
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v12i4.17
Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the anti-stress
and memory-enhancing properties of F. vulgare extract in
experimental rats.
Methods: F. vulgare
plant extract was obtained using
Soxhlet extraction
technique. The extract, at doses of
50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight, was administered
orally with an
orogastric tube.
Urinary levels of vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) and
ascorbic acid in rats were used to evaluate anti-stress
activity. Conditioned avoidance response was measured in
normal and scopolamine-induced amnesic rats to study the
memory-enhancing effects. Lipid peroxidation inhibition
assay in liver and brain homogenates of rats was used to
evaluate antioxidant activity.
Results: Daily administration of F.
vulgare extract (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight) 1 h
prior to induction of stress significantly (p < 0.05)
altered the stress-induced urinary biochemical levels of
VMA from 395.79 ± 11.23 to 347.12 ± 12.28, 311.21 ±
12.48 and 258.86 ± 10.26 µg/kg, respectively, in 24 h,
as well as ascorbic acid excretion levels from 65.74 ±
9.42 to 78.59 ± 8.44, 108.41 ± 15.62 and 125.82 ± 16.94
µg/kg also within the same period, respectively. These
changes occurred in a dose-dependent fashion, and the
levels in the control groups were unchanged within the
same period. The memory deficits induced by scopolamine
(1mg/kg, i.p.) in rats was reversed by F. vulgare
dose-dependently. The extract also exhibited potent
antioxidant effect by inhibition of lipid peroxidation
in both rat liver and brain homogenates
to a greater extent than the
standard antioxidant, ascorbic acid.
Conclusion: F. vulgare may be useful in
the management of stress and stress-related
disorders on account of its multiple
actions such as anti-stress,
memory-enhancing and antioxidant effects.
Keywords: Foeniculum vulgare, Stress,
Vanillyl mandelate, Memory, Antioxidant, Ascorbic acid
