Popis: |
The pharmacological approach to the treatment of depression includes a long-term employment of antidepressants, either in the form of monotherapy or as a combination of several antidepressant with various mechanism of action. Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John's wort) is the only natural antidepressant. Several constituents of the extract, such as hypericin and hyperforin, seem to be important for this effect. H. perforatum is considered to be an effective alternative to other therapeutic agents in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. The paper describes the investigation of the antidepressant effect of H. perforatum (doses 7, 35 and 70 mg kg-1 b.m.) on mice using the forced-swimming and tail-suspension methodes. |