antianxiety activity of successive extracts of angelica archangelica linn on the elevated tmaze and forced swimming tests in rats objective angelica archangelica linn is widely used in food and liquor preparations and also in kashmiri folk medicine to reduce anxiety we evaluated the anxiolytic effect of successive extracts of a archangelica linn sae on rats tested in the elevated tmaze test an animal model of generalized anxiety at doses that exhibit antidepressantlike activity in humansmethods a archangelica 1 kg was subjected to successive extraction in a soxhlet apparatus with solvents petroleum ether 4060 degrees c chloroform ethyl acetate methanol and decoction with water in order of increasing polarity yield 69 73 51 1188 and 82 ww respectively sae were evaluated for anxiolytic effects using the elevated tmaze and forced swimming tests in ratsresults oral dosing of diazepam 1 mgkg and extracts 50 100 and 200 mgkg clearly showed an anxiolyticlike profile in the elevated tmaze test it increased oneway escape and decreased inhibitory avoidance on the first third and seventh day in the forced swimming test imipramine and sae showed antidepressant and anxiolyticlike effects as reflected by increased climbing time swimming time and decreased immobility time on the first third and seventh day aqueous and methanol extracts showed the most petroleum ether 4060 degrees c and chloroform intermediate and ethyl acetate the least anxiolytic activity p005 p001 p 0001 in both modelsconclusions these results suggest the antianxiety activity of various extracts of a archangelica and strongly justify its use in traditional indian medicine for the treatment of anxiety