فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Sleep disorders are accompanied by several complications, and currently used soporific drugs can induce unwantedeffects such as psychomotor impairment, tolerance, amnesia, and rebound insomnia.Objectives: The present study was carried out to investigate if Ocimum basilicum has a sleep-prolonging effect.Materials and Methods: This work was an experimental study on 72 mice which were randomly divided into 9 groups: saline (control);diazepam (3 mg/kg, positive control); hydro-alcoholic extract (HAE) of Ocimum basilicum (25, 50, or 100 mg/kg); ethyl acetatefraction (EAF, 50 mg/kg); n-butanol fraction (NBF, 50 mg/kg); water fraction (WF, 50 mg/kg); and saline containing 10% DMSO (vehiclefor EAF and NBF). All the test compounds were injected intraperitoneally (IP) 30 minutes before pentobarbital administration (30mg/kg). Duration and latency of pentobarbital-induced sleep were recorded. Also, LD50 of HAE was determined and the cytotoxicityof HAE was tested on neural and fibroblast cells using the MTT assay.Results: HAE increased the duration of pentobarbital-induced sleep at doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg (P < 0.001). The hypnoticeffect of HAE was comparable to that induced by diazepam. Similarly, WF, EAF, and NBF at 50 mg/kg could increase sleep duration.The sleep latency was decreased by HAE (P < 0.01 - P < 0.001) and NBF (P < 0.001), but not by WF and EAF. The LD50 value for HAE wasfound to be 2.4 g/kg. HAE had no effect on the viability of neuronal PC12 cells and L929 fibroblast cells.Conclusions: The present data demonstrated that Ocimum basilicum potentiates sleeping behaviors without any cytotoxicity. Themain component (s) responsible for the hypnotic effects of this plant is most likely a non-polar agent (s) which is found in NBF.Isolation of the active constituents may yield a novel sedative drug.