An Investigation on the Effects of Xanthium Strumarium on the Central Nervous System (CNS) in Albino Mice

Abstract

The common weed Xanthium strumarium L. (Family: Asteraceae) is a medicinal plant found in North America, Brazil, China, Malaysia, and the drier parts of India. Many ailments have traditionally been treated using the plant. Whole plant extracts, especially from the leaves, roots, fruits, and seeds, have been used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments, including rheumatism, tuberculosis, salivation, leucoderma, epilepsy, rheumatism, urticaria, allergic rhinitis, sinitis, lumbago, pruritis, leprosy, and bacterial and fungal infections. In this present study, we investigated neurobehavioral activity of ethanol extract of Xanthium strumarium L in mice as a part of a psychopharmacological screening of this plant. The effects of the plant extract on CNS were studied by using Elevated plus maze test. The overall results suggest that the ethanol extract of Xanthium strumarium has significant effect on CNS. However, future efforts should concentrate more on in vitro and in vivo studies in  order to confirm traditional insight in the light of a rational research.