Antidepressant-like effects of fractions, essential oil, carnosol and betulinic acid isolated from Rosmarinus officinalis L.

Machado DG, Cunha MP, Neis VB, Balen GO, Colla A, Bettio LE, Oliveira A, Pazini FL, Dalmarco JB, Simionatto EL, Pizzolatti MG, Rodrigues AL
Food Chemistry, 2013


ABSTRACT:

The aim of this study was to investigate the antidepressant-like effect of fractions from Rosmarinus officinalis L.: ethyl acetate 1 and 2 (AcOEt1 and 2), hexane (HEX), ethanolic (ET), and essential oil-free (EOF) fractions, as well as essential oil, the isolated compounds carnosol and betulinic acid in the tail suspension test, a predictive test of antidepressant activity. Swiss mice were acutely administered by oral route (p.o.) with fractions, essential oil or isolated compounds, 60 min before the tail suspension test or open-field test. All of them produced a significant antidepressant-like effect: AcOEt1, ET, EOF fractions and essential oil (0.1-100mg/kg, p.o); HEX (0.1-10mg/kg, p.o) and AcOEt2 fraction (0.1-1mg/kg, p.o), carnosol (0.01-0.1mg/kg, p.o.) isolated from the HEX fraction and betulinic acid (10mg/kg, p.o.), isolated from the AcOEt1 and AcOEt2 fractions. No psychostimulant effect was shown in the open-field test, indicating that the effects in the tail suspension test are specific. This study suggests that carnosol and betulinic acid could be responsible for the anti-immobility effect of extracts from R. officinalis.

CITATION:

Machado DG, Cunha MP, Neis VB, et al. Antidepressant-like effects of fractions, essential oil, carnosol and betulinic acid isolated from Rosmarinus officinalis L. Food Chem. 2013;136(2):999-1005.


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