Sci Forschen Open HUB for Scientific Research Journal of Drug Research and Development ISSN 2470-1009 | Open Access J Drug Res Dev | JDRD 1 RESEARCH ARTICLE Evaluaton of Antdepressant Efect of Ethanol Extract and Chloroform Fracton of Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae) Leaf in Mice Suleiman Yunusa* and Aliyu Musa Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutcs, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria Received: 17 Jan, 2018 | Accepted: 12 Feb, 2018 | Published: 19 Feb, 2018 Volume 4 - Issue 1 | DOI: htp://dx.doi.org/10.16966/2470-1009.140 *Corresponding author: Suleiman Yunusa, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutcs, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, Tel: +234-8065562625; E-mail: pharmsyunusa2014@gmail.com Citaton: Yunusa S, Musa A (2018) Evaluaton of Antdepressant Efect of Ethanol Extract and Chloroform Fracton of Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae) Leaf in Mice. J Drug Res Dev 4(1): dx.doi.org/10.16966/2470-1009.140 Copyright: © 2018 Yunusa S, et al. This is an open-access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon License, which permits unrestricted use, distributon, and reproducton in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Background: Depression remains the major cause of global burden of disease and afects individuals in all communites across the world. More than 300 million individuals worldwide sufer from depression. Objectve: The objectve of the present study was to evaluate the antdepressant actvity of ethanol extract and chloroform fracton of Moringa oleifera leaf in mice. Methodology: Ethanol Leaf Extract of Moringa oleifera (ELEMO) was prepared from the freshly collected leaves of Moringa oleifera, the leaves were shade dried, pulverized and extracted using 70% v/v ethanol by cold maceration for three days with occasional stirring and agitation. The filtrate was filtered using Whatman filter paper No 1 and then concentrated in electric oven at 50°C until dried extract (97 g) was obtained which was then kept in desiccators until use. Significant quantity of the extract (85 g) was then partitioned with chloroform and the resultant fraction was kept in air tight container maintained at 21 ± 1°C until used. Preliminary phytochemical screening and acute toxicity studies of the extract and the fraction were carried out using the standard methods. Antidepressant screening of the extract at the doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight was conducted using Tail Suspension Test (TST) and Forced Swim Test (FST) while the Chloroform Fraction (CF) was evaluated for the antidepressant activity at the doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight. Results: Alkaloids, glycosides, favonoids, tannins, saponins, phenols, sterols, carbohydrate and terpenoids were detected from the extract while glycosides, favonoids, tannins, sterols and terpenoids gave a positve reacton from the Chloroform Fracton (CF). The result of the acute toxicity studies revealed the LD 50 values of 1131.4 mg/kg body weight in mice for the ethanol extract and 471.0 mg/kg for the chloroform fracton. Ethanol leaf extract of Moringa oleifera (ELEMO) at all the tested doses signifcantly (p<0.05) and dose dependently reduced the duraton of immobility of mice in tail suspension test compared to control group. The extract at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/ kg body weight also exhibited signifcant (p<0.05) reducton in the immobility tme when compared to the normal saline treated group in mice FST. Chloroform fracton at the dose of 200 mg/kg body weight signifcantly (p<0.05) reduced the duraton of immobility in mice tail suspension test as compared to control group, however in forced swim test, the fracton at all the tested doses did not afect the immobility tme compared to control. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that ethanol leaf extract of Moringa oleifera (ELEMO) possess antdepressant actvity in both TST and FST in mice while chloroform fracton possesses antdepressant actvity in mice TST only. Keywords: Antdepressant; Tail suspension test; Forced swim test; Moringa oleifera; Chloroform fracton