Effect of Elettaria cardamomum, Maton seed methanolic extract on fear behavior on adult male rat

Fear is an emotional response to threat or danger and is often associated with behavioral and physiological disorders. Pathological fear remains with the person for a long time. Herbal medicine is the oldest form of treatment and has long been used for combating fear. This research was performed on adult male rats to study the effect of Elettaria cardamomum seed on fear. In this study, animals were divided in to 3 groups (n=6). Control, (saline) group received intra-cerebro-ventricular injection of 1UL saline. Sham group received 20 mg/kg PTZ(i.p. injection). The third group, received doses of 3, 10, or 30 Ug/rat of the cardamom seed methanolic extract (i.c.v injection) and 20 mg/kg PTZ(i.p. injection).A cannula was placed into the lateral ventricle by stereotaxic apparatus and elevated plus-maze apparatus for evaluation of the fear behavior. All doses of injection of cardamom seed methanolic extract (3,10,30 Ug/rat) increased open arm time percentage (%OAT), open arm entries percentage (%OAE) and locomotor activity; also doses of 30 Ug increased %OAT and %OAE significantly (p<0.01). The results show that compounds of Elettaria cardamomum seed can decrease fear induced by PTZ injection.