Anti-depressant potential of banana fruit.
The prevalence of depression is alarming all over the world afflicting as many as 121 million individuals. Females in India are more susceptible than males owing to societal customs. The efficacy of anti-depressant medicines is limited. Therefore, there is an urgent need for safe, better-tolerated and more efficacious anti-depressants. Furthermore, depression is largely a hidden problem in India, which prompts the necessity of identifying the nutrients commonly available to Indian population for the management of depression. Recently, the search for novel drugs of vegetable origin for psychiatric illnesses has progressed significantly (Zhang, 2004). Musa paradisiaca Linn or banana, a plant belonging to family Musaceae, is consumed all over the world as a popular fruit throughout the year. Traditionally, the fruits of banana have been used as a remedy for constipation, hangovers, anthelmintic and as a rich source of iron (Davey et al., 2009) and potassium (Rai et al., 2009). Banana contains very high levels of antioxidants, viz. vitamin-A, vitamin-C, carotenoids (Davey et al., 2009), thiamine, niacin, catechins and -tocophenol (Enayde et al., 2006). Furthermore, banana contains hypoglycemic agents (Ghosal and Saini, 1984) such as sterylacyl glycoside (sitoindosides I and II) and diacylglycerols in addition to several other bioactive compounds. However, there is no scientific evidence for therapeutic potential of banana in neuropsychiatric disorders. In the light of above, the present study was designed to determine the anti-depressant potential of banana fruit in mice.