Screening Neuropharmacological Activities of Kaempferia parviflora (Krachai Dam) in Healthy Adult Male Rats

Problem statement: Although the global prevalence of psychological disorders is increasing continually, the efficacies of therapeutic strategies are still very limited. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders and substance possessing antioxidant activity can alleviate the mentioned conditions. Therefore, we hypothesized that Kaempferia parviflora, a medicinal plant claimed for nerve tonic, also possessed the neuropharmacological activities which provide the advantage for psychiatric disorders. Approach: Adult male Wistar rats, weighing 180-220 grams, were orally given the ethanolic extract of K. parviflora at doses of 150, 200 and 250 mg kg-1 BW once daily for 2 weeks. Then, they were determined the neuropharmacological activities including anxiolytic, anti-depression like behavior and cognitive enhancement after single dose, 1 and 2 weeks of treatment. Results: K. parviflora possessed anti-depression like behavior and cognitive enhancement at all treatment duration. Unfortunately, this substance failed to show anxiolytic like activity. Conclusion: Our results suggested that K. parviflora might be used as a novel therapeutic strategy for psychiatric disorder and cognitive enhancement. However, further investigations about precise underlying mechanism are still required.