Anti-anxiety studies on extracts of Passiflora incarnata Linneaus

Passiflora incarnata Linn. has been used to cure anxiety and insomnia since time immemorial. Despite the worldwide use of P. incarnata, the pharmacolo gical work on this plant had been inadequate, inconclusive and wage as the earlier reports were unable to infer the mode of action of the plant as wel l as the phytoconstituents responsible for the much acclaimed anxiolytic an d sedative effects of P. incarnata. An attempt has been made to isolate and identify the bioactive phytomoiety of P. incarnata by resorting to bioacti vity directed fractionation and chromatographic procedures. A fraction deri ved from the methanol extract of P. incarnata has been observed to exhibit significant anxiolytic. activity at a dose of 10 mg/kg in mice using elevat ed plus-maze model of anxiety. This fraction comprises mainly two component s which are visible as blue and turquoise colored fluorescent spots at 366 mn of the UV light. The possibility of a phytoconstituent having benzoflavo ne nucleus as the basic moiety being responsible for the bioactivity of P. incarnata is highly anticipated. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ire land Ltd.