Sedative and anxiolytic effects of methanolic extract from the leaves of Passiflora actinia

Abstract

Leaves from several Passiflora species are largely employed in the Brazilian folk medicine as anxiolytic and sedative. In this work the anxiolytic, sedative-like properties and liquid chromatography analysis of methanolic extract of Passiflora actinia were evaluated. The methanol extract and all of its fractions presented significant sedative-like effect in elevated plus-maze and open field tests. Only the aqueous fraction of the methanol extract showed selective anxiolytic activity (30 mg/kg). Chromatographic analysis of the active fractions showed the presence of isovitexin and absence of the classical Passiflora beta-carboline alkaloids or flavonoids such as vitexin, rutin, swertisin, hesperidin and orientin. The tincture obtained from P. actinia leaves presented 0.27 mg/ml of isovitexin and absence of vitexin.