Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate the volatile oil of Zingiber officinale Rosc. and Aripiprazole for antidepressant activity and to carry out the docking studies for their respective binding sites. Argus Lab 4.0.1 software (Mark A. Thompson, Planaria Software   LLC, and Seattle, WA, USA) was used to perform the docking studies and the elevated plus maze, forced swim test, learned helplessness and open field tests were used for assessing the antidepressant activity. Imipramine (20 mg/kg, orally) was administered to Albino wistar rats as reference drug. Docking results reveal that the gingerol, aripiprazole and imipramine actively interacted with 5HT_1A receptor with high docking score (shogoal: -9.0267, gingerol: -8.41044, aripiprazole: -8.73428 and imipramine: -8.21131 Kcal/mol).The volatile oil of Z. officinale Rosc. (14 mg/kg, orally) and aripiprazole (10 mg/kg, orally), was able to increase the time and number of entries in the open arm in elevated plus maze, as well as to decrease the immobility time of rats subjected to forced swimming test, and to decrease the number of failures to escape when subjected to learned helplessness test. Volatile oil of Z. officinale Rosc. and aripiprazole showed a significant increase in the locomotor and exploratory behavior in open field test. The volatile oil of Z. officinale Rosc. and aripiprazole showed significant antidepressant activity compared to that of standard drug.

Key words: Zingiber officinale Rosc., Aripiprazole, Docking, Antidepressant, 5HT_1AR.