Comparison of the Effect of Echium amoenum with Buspironeon the Anxiety of Cruciate Maze in Adult Male Rats

Chemical compouds of Echium amoenum extract is effective in the treatment of anxiety. The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of aqueous extract of Echium amoenum with Buspirone which is widely used in treatment of anxiety disorders. In this experimental study, 80 adult male rats were divided randomly into 2 parts of acute and chronic treatment each part with 5 groups (each 8 mice) including control (without treatment), sham (recieving strilled water as drug solvent) and 3 experimental groups which received Buspirone, Echium amoenum hydroalcoholic extract and Buspirone+Echium amoenum hydroalcoholic extract. All treatments were performed for 7 days in acute and for 14 days in chronic group. Cruciate-maze test was used to measure anxiety and the time and frequency of rat's presence in the open and closed levers of the maze were recorded. Data were analyzed in SPSS 18 software using one-sided ANOVA and Tukey's statistical tests. In acute groups, the means level of anxiety in Echium amoenum (p<0.001), Buspirone (p<0.0001) and Buspirone+Echium amoenum (p<0.0001) groups were reduced significantly compared to the control group, but the anti-anxiety effect of Echium amoenum was significantly less than Buspirone and Buspirone+Echium amoenum. In chronic groups, the means level of anxiety were reduced in all experimental groups compared to the control group (p<0.0001). Buspirone and Echium amoenum extract both cause the reduction of anxiety level and the effect of Echium amoenum increase by increasing the time of treatment period