Antistress and Antidepressant Potentials of Artemisia annua Extract in a Mice Model

Stress burdens the activities of individuals and negatively impacts their overall well-being, highlighting the urgent need to explore effective remedies. Since the discovery of the first antimalarial drug from Artemisia annua, this plant has been recognized for its remarkable pharmacological activities, such as antibacterial, anticancer, anti-obesity, and antidiabetic, among others. Herein, we investigated the phytochemical profiling and anti-stress potential of A. annua using a mouse model. First, the crude extracts of A. annua (ArAn-Crd) were subjected to HPLC and GC-MS analyses, which revealed the presence of complex phytochemicals. According to results of the preliminary pharmacological assessment and acute toxicity study, doses of 125 and 250 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) were selected to be effective doses for pharmacological activities. Subsequently, the anti-stress and antidepressant properties were assessed using chemical-induced stress, swimming endurance, and restraint stress models. In the chemical-induced stress model, ArAn-Crd at 250 mg reduced writhing by 71.14%, comparable to diazepam with 76.11% activity. In the swimming endurance test, the 250 mg dose significantly decreased immobility time to 81.65 ± 2.98 s on Day 28, compared to 207.67 ± 3.33 s in the control group. The restraint stress model revealed that ArAn-Crd reduced blood glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol levels, while also modulating oxidative stress biomarkers, such as TBARS, GSH, and catalase. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that A. annua exhibits good anti-stress and antidepressant activities due to its rich phytochemical profile, and possibly these phytochemicals mitigate the stress by an antioxidant mechanism.