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Abstract
Background and Purpose: Previous studies suggest that the leaf of Trigonella foenum (TF) has analgesic anti-inflammatory and probably modulatory effects on sleep and anxiety reactions. The present study is intended to determine the effects of hydro - alcoholic extract of TF on anxiety and sleeping time in mice. Methods and Materials: In this experimental study 140 male albino mice (25-30 gr) were used in 14 groups (n=10 in each group). Elevated plus maze (EPM) was used for the assessment of anxiety and experimental groups received hydro-alcoholic extracts of TF (50 100 200 400 and 80 mg/kg) as IP injection; sham group received saline (10 mg/kg IP injection) 30 minutes prior to evaluation; the control group did not receive any injection. 25 minutes after injection animals were put in a black box for 5 minutes in order to increase their activity; then they were transferred to the EPM for anxiety evaluation by two factors: the time spent and frequency of entrance to the open arms of the EPM. In order to assess sleeping time the Angel method (records of sleeping duration by physiograph) was used. 30 minutes before sleep assessment TF extract and saline were used for experimental and sham groups; the control group received nothing as what we did in anxiety evaluation. Finally ANOVA and Tukey tests were used for data analysis. Results: The findings indicated that the hydro-alcoholic extract of TF in doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg significantly increased the time spent and frequency of entrance to the open arms of EPM (p
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