THE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECT OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF STIGMA MAYDIS OF ZEA MAYS USING SWISS ALBINO MICE


THE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECT OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF STIGMA MAYDIS OF ZEA MAYS USING SWISS ALBINO MICE  

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Health is the most precious of all things and it is the foundation of all happiness. Traditional medicine has developed in various communities in Nigeria in response to the health needs of the people. Many communities have, therefore, since creation, developed various traditional systems using locally available resources for the alleviation of their health problems. As once noted some 13 years ago (Tella, 1986), traditional medicine is as old as the hills in Nigeria. The development of traditional medicine in Nigeria has led to various categories of healers, the various healing methods, strategies, and medicines or remedies now known.

The use of herbal medicines in Asia represents a long history of human interactions with the environment. Plants used for traditional medicine contain a wide range of substances that can be used to treat chronic as well as infectious diseases (Duraipandiyan et al., 2006). Due to the development of adverse effects and microbial resistance to chemically synthesized drugs, the population has turned to the use of plants for treatments. They found literally thousands of phytochemicals from plants as safe and broadly effective alternatives with fewer adverse effects. Much beneficial biological activity such as anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antidiarrhoeal, analgesic, and wound healing activities were reported. In many cases, people claim the good benefit of certain natural or herbal products. However, clinical trials are necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of a bioactive compound to verify this traditional claim. Clinical trials directed towards understanding the pharmacokinetics, bioavailability, efficacy, safety, and drug interactions of newly developed bioactive compounds and their formulations (extracts) require a careful evaluation. Clinical trials are carefully planned to safeguard the health of the participants as well as answer specific research questions by evaluating for both immediate and long-term side effects and their outcomes are measured before the drug is widely applied to patients.

        Due to the fact that plant extracts usually occur as a combination of various types of bioactive compounds or phytochemicals with different polarities, their separation still remains a big challenge for the process of identification and characterization of bioactive compounds. It is a common practice in isolation of these bioactive compounds that a number of different separation techniques such as TLC, column chromatography, flash chromatography, Sephadex chromatography, and HPLC, should be used to obtain pure compounds. The pure compounds are then used for the determination of structure and biological activity. Besides that, non-chromatographic techniques such as immunoassay, which uses monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), phytochemical screening assay, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), can also be used to obtain and facilitate the identification of the bioactive compounds (Sasidharan et al., 2011).

Phytochemicals are chemicals derived from plants and the term is often used to describe the large number of secondary metabolic compounds found in plants. Phytochemical screening assay is a simple, quick, and inexpensive procedure that gives the researcher a quick answer to the various types of phytochemicals in a mixture and an important tool in bioactive compound analyses (Sasidharan et al., 2011).

 Depression (Major depressive disorder)  is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how a person feels, the way they think, and how they act. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. The occurrence of depression is associated with factors such as age, marital status, social class, and social conditions. Individuals who are separated or divorced have significantly higher rates of major depression than the currently married and the prevalence of major depression generally goes down with age. (Andrade et al., 2003). This evidence, however, comes primarily from studies conducted in Western countries. The sparse data available from low-middle income countries suggest that the age pattern might either be non-monotonic or reversed compared to other countries, with depression increasing with age (Murray et al., 2010). Major depression is a chronic illness with a high prevalence and is a major component of disease burden. The prevalence of major depression is higher in women than in men; in 2008, its global annual prevalence was 5.5% and 3.2%, respectively, representing a 1.7-fold greater incidence in women. (Stotland et al., 2010).  

Some risk factors associated with depression are Family history, early childhood experience, stress, marital status, work status, physical illness, medication, gender, age, tobacco, etc.

          The major treatment for depression is a drug treatment and there are quite a lot of drugs used in this treatment. But these drugs have limitations in terms of side effects, cost, availability, presence of toxic chemicals and heavy metals which makes them less effective. And so, there is an ever-increasing effort at discovering a newer treatment that could be blessed toxic, cheaper, and readily available. Plant sources, because of their less toxicity and side effects, happen to be an area where the search line is focused.

Plant (herbal medicine) is made from all-natural ingredients, they are much safer than laboratory-made drugs. Studies show that manufactured items including synthetic drugs are not effective than natural items such as herbal medicine (Duraipandiyan et al., 2006).

1.2 Justification of the study       

          Stigma maydis (corn silk) has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-fatigue, anti-diabetic effect, etc. But no study has reported its anti-depressant activity. Hence the aim of this study.

1.3 Aim of the study

      The aim of this study was to evaluate the antidepressant effect of ethanolic extract of Stigma maydis of Zea mays using swiss albino mice.

1.4 Objectives of the study

 The objectives of this study were to determine the median lethal dose of Stigma maydis extract using animal models of depression, To determine the antidepressant activity of the ethanol Stigma maydis extract of Zea mays, and to evaluate the chemical constituents present in this extract.

.

THE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECT OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF STIGMA MAYDIS OF ZEA MAYS USING SWISS ALBINO MICE



TYPE IN YOUR TOPIC AND CLICK SEARCH.






RESEARCHWAP.ORG

Researchwap.org is an online repository for free project topics and research materials, articles and custom writing of research works. We’re an online resource centre that provides a vast database for students to access numerous research project topics and materials. Researchwap.org guides and assist Postgraduate, Undergraduate and Final Year Students with well researched and quality project topics, topic ideas, research guides and project materials. We’re reliable and trustworthy, and we really understand what is called “time factor”, that is why we’ve simplified the process so that students can get their research projects ready on time. Our platform provides more educational services, such as hiring a writer, research analysis, and software for computer science research and we also seriously adhere to a timely delivery.

TESTIMONIES FROM OUR CLIENTS


Please feel free to carefully review some written and captured responses from our satisfied clients.

  • "Exceptionally outstanding. Highly recommend for all who wish to have effective and excellent project defence. Easily Accessable, Affordable, Effective and effective."

    Debby Henry George, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA.
  • "I saw this website on facebook page and I did not even bother since I was in a hurry to complete my project. But I am totally amazed that when I visited the website and saw the topic I was looking for and I decided to give a try and now I have received it within an hour after ordering the material. Am grateful guys!"

    Hilary Yusuf, United States International University Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
  • "Researchwap.org is a website I recommend to all student and researchers within and outside the country. The web owners are doing great job and I appreciate them for that. Once again, thank you very much "researchwap.org" and God bless you and your business! ."

    Debby Henry George, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA.
  • "Great User Experience, Nice flows and Superb functionalities.The app is indeed a great tech innovation for greasing the wheels of final year, research and other pedagogical related project works. A trial would definitely convince you."

    Lamilare Valentine, Kwame Nkrumah University, Kumasi, Ghana.
  • "I love what you guys are doing, your material guided me well through my research. Thank you for helping me achieve academic success."

    Sampson, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
  • "researchwap.com is God-sent! I got good grades in my seminar and project with the help of your service, thank you soooooo much."

    Cynthia, Akwa Ibom State University .
  • "Sorry, it was in my spam folder all along, I should have looked it up properly first. Please keep up the good work, your team is quite commited. Am grateful...I will certainly refer my friends too."

    Elizabeth, Obafemi Awolowo University
  • "Am happy the defense went well, thanks to your articles. I may not be able to express how grateful I am for all your assistance, but on my honour, I owe you guys a good number of referrals. Thank you once again."

    Ali Olanrewaju, Lagos State University.
  • "My Dear Researchwap, initially I never believed one can actually do honest business transactions with Nigerians online until i stumbled into your website. You have broken a new legacy of record as far as am concerned. Keep up the good work!"

    Willie Ekereobong, University of Port Harcourt.
  • "WOW, SO IT'S TRUE??!! I can't believe I got this quality work for just 3k...I thought it was scam ooo. I wouldn't mind if it goes for over 5k, its worth it. Thank you!"

    Theressa, Igbinedion University.
  • "I did not see my project topic on your website so I decided to call your customer care number, the attention I got was epic! I got help from the beginning to the end of my project in just 3 days, they even taught me how to defend my project and I got a 'B' at the end. Thank you so much researchwap.com, infact, I owe my graduating well today to you guys...."

    Joseph, Abia state Polytechnic.
  • "My friend told me about ResearchWap website, I doubted her until I saw her receive her full project in less than 15 miniutes, I tried mine too and got it same, right now, am telling everyone in my school about researchwap.com, no one has to suffer any more writing their project. Thank you for making life easy for me and my fellow students... Keep up the good work"

    Christiana, Landmark University .
  • "I wish I knew you guys when I wrote my first degree project, it took so much time and effort then. Now, with just a click of a button, I got my complete project in less than 15 minutes. You guys are too amazing!."

    Musa, Federal University of Technology Minna
  • "I was scared at first when I saw your website but I decided to risk my last 3k and surprisingly I got my complete project in my email box instantly. This is so nice!!!."

    Ali Obafemi, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Niger State.
  • To contribute to our success story, send us a feedback or please kindly call 2348037664978.
    Then your comment and contact will be published here also with your consent.

    Thank you for choosing researchwap.com.