RESUMO
Tagetus erecta (Asteraceae) is a plant with diverse medicinal properties hence the present work was selected to evaluate the anxiolytic activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of flowers of T. erecta. Dried flower powder of T. erecta was extracted by maceration process to get alcoholic (AEFTE) and aqueous (AQEFTE) extract. Preliminary phytochemical investigations were carried out to identify various constituents present in AEFTE and AQEFTE. The LD50 studies of AEFTE and AQEFTE were conducted in mice till the highest permitted dose level of 2000 mg/Kg following Up and Down method of OECD Guidelines. From the LD50 2 doses of extract as 1/20th (low) and 1/5th (high) were selected. The anxiolytic activity of AEFTE and AQEFTE was evaluated in laboratory animal models like Elevated plus maze and Light-dark exploration models in rats. Preliminary phytochemical tests revealed that both AEFTE and AQEFTE contained glycosides, phenols, steroids, flavonoids. The LD50 studies revealed that both AEFTE and AQETE did not produced any abnormal behaviour or mortality even at the highest permissible dose of 2000 mg/Kg in mice. The Diazepam (2 mg/kg), AQEFTE and AEFTE (100, 400 mg/kg) were tested on Elevated plus maze and Light dark chamber models. After treated with AFETE and AQEFTE shows significant reduction in anxiety activity with the extracts at low and high doses.