Background: Depression are among the most common and oldest psychological symptoms that have been discussed in various texts and affect the quality of a person's mood and change his perception of himself and his environment.
Objective: Melilotus officinalis L plant contains effective substances and antioxidant compounds. The aim of the present study is to investigate the antidepressant effects of Alki Melilotus officinalis L extract in male mice.
Methods: In this experimental research, 42 male mice were divided into 6 groups of 7 including control groups (normal saline), negative control (reserpine), positive control (reserpine + fluoxetine) and 3 reserpine groups treated with doses of 100, 200, 400 mg/ Kilograms of alcoholic extract of Melilotus officinalis L were Injected by intraperitoneal route. Behavioral tests of forced swimming and tail hanging were used to evaluate depression, and the antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde of the brain were also measured. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 one-way analysis of variance software at a significance level of p<0.05.
Results: The findings obtained from this research showed that the dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg extract significantly reduced the duration of immobility in the forced swimming test compared to the negative control. In the tail suspension test, the dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg extract showed a significant increase compared to the negative control. The dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg extract significantly increased the antioxidant capacity of the brain compared to the negative control. The dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg extract significantly reduced the antioxidant capacity of the brain compared to the negative control.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that Melilotus officinalis L plant probably has antidepressant effects similar to fluoxetine due to its antioxidant compounds.