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An ethanolic extract of Desmodium adscendens exhibits antipsychotic-like activity in mice

  • Patrick Amoateng EMAIL logo , Samuel Adjei , Dorcas Osei-Safo , Kennedy K.E. Kukuia ORCID logo , Thomas K. Karikari and Alexander K. Nyarko
Published/Copyright: July 15, 2017
Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology
From the journal Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology Volume 28 Issue 5

Abstract

Background:

Desmodium adscendens extract (DAE) is used traditionally in Ghana for the management of psychosis. The present study aimed at providing pharmacological evidence for its ethnomedical use by testing the hypothesis that an ethanolic extract of Desmodium adscendens may possess antipsychotic properties.

Methods:

The primary behavioral effects of DAE on the central nervous system of mice were investigated using Irwin’s test paradigm. Novelty-induced and apomorphine-induced locomotor and rearing behaviors in mice were explored in an open-field observational test system. Apomorphine-induced cage climbing test in mice was used as the antipsychotic animal model. The ability of DAE to induce catalepsy and enhance haloperidol-induced catalepsy was also investigated in mice.

Results:

The DAE produced sedation, cholinergic-, and serotonergic-like effects in mice when evaluated using the Irwin’s test. No lethality was observed after 24 h post-treatment. The LD50 in mice was estimated to be greater than 3000 mg/kg. The DAE significantly decreased the frequency of novelty- and apomorphine-induced rearing and locomotor activities in mice. It also significantly lowered the frequency and duration of apomorphine-induced climbing activities in mice. It did not induce any cataleptic event in naïve mice but only significantly enhanced haloperidol-induced catalepsy at a dose of 1000 mg/kg.

Conclusions:

The ethanolic extract of Desmodium adscendens exhibited antipsychotic-like activities in mice. Motor side effects are only likely to develop at higher doses of the extract.

Keywords: antipsychotic; apomorphine; chlorpromazine; Desmodium adscendens; haloperidol; stereotypy
Corresponding author: Dr. Patrick Amoateng, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, PO Box LG 43, Legon, Accra, Ghana, Phone: +233 243 956637

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support provided by Esther Benewaa in the apomorphine-induced cage-climbing experiments. We are also grateful to Constance Agbemelo-Tsomafo, Shirley Nyarko Adu-Poku and other technical staff at the Animal Experimentation unit of the NMIMR, Accra, Ghana and the technical staff of the Animal Resource Center, Health Sciences Center, Kuwait University Kuwait, for their immense contributions during the experiments conducted there.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: The research work described in this article was financially supported by the Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID), University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, grant awarded to Dr. Patrick Amoateng (reference number: URF/6/ILG-002/2012-2013). The research paper was also supported by the University of Ghana-Carnegie Next Generation of Academics in Africa Project with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Thomas K. Karikari was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC; http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk) grant number BB/J014532/1 through the Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership.

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

  5. Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Received: 2016-7-22
Accepted: 2017-5-17
Published Online: 2017-7-15
Published in Print: 2017-9-26

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  2. Review
  3. Natural product for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease
  4. Behavior and Neuroprotection
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  15. Amelioration of hyperglycemia and associated metabolic abnormalities by a combination of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) seeds and onion (Allium cepa) in experimental diabetes
  16. An ethanolic extract of Desmodium adscendens exhibits antipsychotic-like activity in mice
https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2016-0115
Keywords for this article
antipsychotic; apomorphine; chlorpromazine; Desmodium adscendens; haloperidol; stereotypy

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Review
  3. Natural product for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease
  4. Behavior and Neuroprotection
  5. Evidence for the involvement of the GABA-ergic pathway in the anticonvulsant activity of the roots bark aqueous extract of Anthocleista djalonensis A. Chev. (Loganiaceae)
  6. Cardiovascular Function
  7. Cutaneous temperature sensitivity alteration in subjects with chronic stroke sequelae – pharmacological perspectives
  8. Combinatorial therapy of exercise-preconditioning and nanocurcumin formulation supplementation improves cardiac adaptation under hypobaric hypoxia
  9. Oxidative Stress
  10. Phellinus rimosus improves mitochondrial energy status and attenuates nephrotoxicity in diabetic rats
  11. Hepatoprotective effects of Vaccinium arctostaphylos against CCl4-induced acute liver injury in rats
  12. The impact of vitamin C on the relationship among inflammation, lipid peroxidation and platelet activation during analgesic nephropathy in rats
  13. Phytotherapy
  14. Antidiarrheal and antinociceptive activities of ethanol extract and its chloroform and pet ether fraction of Phrynium imbricatum (Roxb.) leaves in mice
  15. Amelioration of hyperglycemia and associated metabolic abnormalities by a combination of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) seeds and onion (Allium cepa) in experimental diabetes
  16. An ethanolic extract of Desmodium adscendens exhibits antipsychotic-like activity in mice
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