Mucuna Flagellipes Chronic Diet Consumption Improves Exploratory Behaviour and Body Weight in Mice

The use of Mucunaflagellipes in recent time has been on the increase as a result of its speculated therapeutic effect mostly on theprotein level of the body. And owing to the fact that there are no detailed reports on Mucunaflagellipes on its effect on neurobehavioralparameters, this work is therefore intended to investigate the possible effects of this herb on the exploratory behavior and bodyweight in Swiss white mice. Twenty (20) mice of mixed sex were randomly divided in to two groups of ten mice each. Group 1served as the control, while group 2 received the Mucunaflagellipes diet. The feeding lasted for 31 days. The open field maze taskwas used to assess exploratory behavior. All mice were allowed free access to clean drinking water. Daily food intake, water intakeand body weight change were measured. Data were analyzed using the statistical tools (one way ANOVA and student t-test).Theresults showed that the Mucunaflagellipes diet fed mice had significantly increased (p<0.01; p<0.05) line crossings, close armduration and stretch attend posture (SAP) compared to control. There was an increase in food intake and water intake (p<0.001and p<0.01) compared to control. However, the body weight change was statistically higher but not significant when compared tothe control group. Therefore, consumption of Mucunaflagellipes improves exploratory behavior and body weight in mice. Thesemay be has a result of an unknown phytochemical compound present in Mucunaflagellipes.