en تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research Article <aside style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Arial; word-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 11px;"> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: 700;">Background:</span>&nbsp;There are reports in traditional medicine about the effectiveness of&nbsp;<i style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">Ocimum basilicum</i>&nbsp;(OB) in the treatment of anxiety. The Elevated Plus-Maze (EPM) has been predominantly used to investigate anxiety levels in rodents.</p> </aside> <aside style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Arial; word-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 11px;"> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: 700;">Objectives:</span>&nbsp;The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of extract of OB on rat behavior in the EPM test.</p> </aside> <aside style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Arial; word-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 11px;"> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: 700;">Materials and Methods:</span>&nbsp;Male Wistar rats weighing 220 - 250 g were used in the present study. Forty rats were divided into 4 groups: three OB groups (25, 50, 100 mg/kg oral administration of OB for 7 days) and a saline control group. One day after the last day of feeding, the animals&rsquo; behavior in EPM was videotaped for 10 minutes. Then, their behavior scored for formal indexes of anxiety, such as the total distance covered by animals, the percentage of entries into and the time spent in open and closed arms.</p> </aside> <aside style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Arial; word-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 11px;"> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: 700;">Results:</span>&nbsp;The results showed that after oral feeding of OB, the percentage of open arms entry and open arms time in EPM increased in the experimental groups. OB extract has no effect on the total distance covered by animals and number of closed arm entries.</p> </aside> <aside style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Arial; word-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 11px;"> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: 700;">Conclusions:</span>&nbsp;Our results demonstrated that the extract of OB could induce anxiolytic effect in rats after 1 week oral administration. The effect of OB was not induced through changes in motor activity. Further investigations are necessary for pharmacological providing of OB and better understanding of its anxiolytic properties and neurobiological mechanisms.</p> </aside> Elevated Plus-Maze, Rat, Anxiety, Ocimum basilicum 49 54 http://ajnpp.umsha.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-2-30&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Zahra Nemati 1003194753284600128 1003194753284600128 No Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran Samaneh Oveisi 1003194753284600129 1003194753284600129 No Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran Alireza Komaki alirezakomaki@gmail.com 1003194753284600130 1003194753284600130 Yes Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran Siamak Shahidi 1003194753284600131 1003194753284600131 No Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, IR Iran