Studies on the anxiolytic activity of Eurycoma longifolia Jack roots in mice

The anxiolytic effect of Eurycoma longifolia Jack in mice was examined. Fra ctions of E. longifolia Jack extract produced a significant increase in the number of squares crossed (controls = 118.2 +/- 10.2 squares), but signifi cantly decreased both the immobility (controls = 39.4 +/- 4.0 sec) and feca l pellets (controls = 12.3 +/- 2.1 fecal pellets) when compared with contro l mice in the open-held test; they significantly increased the number of en tries (controls = 6.7 +/- 0.5 entries) and time spent (controls = 42.9 +/- 0.1 sec) in the open arms, but decreased both the number of entries (contro ls = 13.2 +/- 0.7 entries) and time spent (controls = 193.4 +/- 0.7 sec) wh en compared with the control mice in the closed arms of the elevated plus-m aze test. Furthermore, fractions of E. longifolia Jack extract decreased th e fighting episodes significantly (controls = 18.0 +/- 0.4 fighting episode s) when compared with control mice. In addition, these results were found t o be consistent with anxiolytic effect produced by diazepam. Hence, this st udy supports the medicinal use of this plant for anxiety therapy.