Abstract:
Depression is a mental disorder caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters which
can be treated with antidepressants. The method commonly used for antidepressant
screening which is validated by animal behavior is the Forced Swim Test (FST). It
has not been clarified the antidepressant activity of n-hexane extract young areca
nut (Areca catechu L.). Therefore, this study aimed to perform FST on mice which
had been injected acutely with young areca nut n-hexane extract. The young areca
nut n-hexane extract was injected intraperitoneally 1 hour before FST to mice at
doses of 100 mg/kg, while the the vehicle control group was only injected 0.9%
saline. The n-hexane extract young areca nut seeds at a dose of 100 mg/kg has no
potential as an antidepressant. This was evidenced by the unsatisfactory results, the
extract induced a significant decline in the immobility time of the mice that had
been injected with the drug sample.
