Benzodiazepine-like effects of the alcohol extract from Erythrina velutina leaves: Memory, anxiety, and epilepsy

Abstract In this work, we studied the effects of the alcohol extract (AE) from Erythrina velutina. Willd (Fabaceae) leaves in animal models of anxiety (elevated plus maze; EPM), memory (inhibitory avoidance test), and epilepsy (pentylenetetrazol-induced convulsions and pentylenetetrazol-induced kindling seizure). In the EPM test, at the dose of 20 mg/kg, the AE significantly increased the percentage of entries into the open arms (p = 0.03). In the inhibitory avoidance test, greater test than training latencies were observed for the control group but not for the AE (10 mg/kg) (p = 0.112) and diazepam (p = 0.331) treated groups during the acquisition phase of the test. During the consolidation and retrieval phases, there were differences between training and test latencies for all three groups. In the pentylenetetrazol-induced convulsion test, the AE (100 mg/kg) increased the latency to death when compared with the control group (p < 0.05) and reduced the kindling behavior induced by low doses of pentylenetetrazol. Together, the effects described for the AE of E. velutina. leaves on rodent central nervous system resemble the profile of effects of benzodiazepines and could be interpreted as an interaction of the extract with GABAergic circuitries.