Angelica archangelica Linn.is a herb distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In Indian and Chinese system of medicine, it is used for nervous disorders and cerebral diseases. Previously the aqueous extract of the A. archangelica was evaluated for anxiolytic activity and was found to have significant potential for the same. The present study is aimed to evaluate the anxiolytic activity of methanol extract of root (MER), stem (MES), leaf (MEL), fruit (MEF) and whole plant (MEW) of Angelica archangelica Linn. All the extracts (MER, MES, MEL, MEF and MEW) were evaluated for anxiolytic effects using elevated plus maze test (EPM) model in rats. Methanol extracts of different parts of A.archangelica had increased number of entries and time spent in open arms while they decreased the number of entries and duration of time spent in closed arm of the EPM. In a similar fashion, the diazepam increased the percentage of time spent and percentage of arm entries in the open arms (*P <0.05, **P <0.01). Whole plant and the root had the maximum, leaf and fruits showed intermediate, while stem had the least anxiolytic activity (*P <0.05, **P <0.01) in EPM (Figure 1-5). The head dip count in DZ, SMR400, SML400, SMF400 and SMW400 in open arm are significantly shown in Table 1. The DZ, SMF400 and SMW did not show the fecal bolus while other groups were reduced the fecal bolus significantly (**P <0.01) as compared to control (Table 1). Whole plant and leaf showed the most, root and fruit the intermediate and stem the least anxiolytic activity (**P <0.01) in EPM.
Keywords: Angelica archangelica; Anxiolytic; Elevated plus maze test.