Journal
EVIDENCE-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Volume 2011, Issue -, Pages 1-7Publisher
HINDAWI LTD
DOI: 10.1093/ecam/nep232
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Funding
- Brazilian federal research funding organization: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES - Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior)
- Brazilian federal research funding organization: National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico)
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Plants of the genus Valeriana (Valerianaceae) are used in traditional medicine as a mild sedative, antispasmodic and tranquilizer in many countries. This study was undertaken to explore the neurobehavioral effects of systemic administration of a valepotriate extract fraction of known quantitative composition of Valeriana glechomifolia (endemic of southern Brazil) in mice. Adult animals were treated with a single intraperitoneal injection of valepotriate fraction (VF) in the concentrations of 1, 3 or 10 mg kg(-1), or with vehicle in the pre-training period before each behavioral test. During the exploration of an open field, mice treated with 10 mg kg(-1) of VF showed reduced locomotion and exploratory behavior. Although overall habituation sessions for locomotion and exploratory behavior among vehicle control and doses of VF were not affected, comparison between open-field and habituation sessions within each treatment showed that VF administration at 1 and 10 mg kg(-1) impaired habituation. In the elevated plus-maze test, mice treated with VF (10 mg kg(-1)) showed a significant increase in the percentage of time spent in the open arms without significant effects in the number of total arm entries. VF at 3 mg kg(-1) produced an impairment of novel-object recognition memory. In contrast, VF did not affect fear-related memory assessed in an inhibitory avoidance task. The results indicate that VF can have sedative effects and affect behavioral parameters related to recognition memory.
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