Effect of acute caffeine administration on inducing anxiety like behaviour in BALB/c mice / Nur Hidayah Ahmad Tarmizi

Caffeine is consumed by many people around the world. A central nervous system (CNS) stimulant with a very low potential of abuse, caffeine-containing coffee is consumed for its alertness properties. Anxiety, an effect that is usually observed with CNS stimulation, has also been associated with caffeine-consumption. However, the concentration at which caffeine caused anxiety-like symptoms varies greatly between individual (Smith, 2002). Genetic factor (Yang, Palmer, & Wit, 2010) and lifestyle (Youngstedt, O'Connor, Crabbe, & Dishman, 1998) for example, have great influence on how an individual reacts to caffeine. In the present study, the effect of acute administration of caffeine in BALB/c mice was observed. Two concentrations of caffeine, 1 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg were used in this study. The mice were randomly divided into four groups: the control group, the restraint group, caffeine 1 mg/kg group and caffeine 3 mg/kg group. The control and restraint groups received normal saline solution. All the treatments were given intraperitoneally, 30 minutes before the behavioral test on Elevated Plus Maze (EPM). The results from this study show that at the two concentrations used, caffeine did not cause anxiogenic effect in the mice. The result could also suggest that at low concentration, caffeine acts more as an anxiolytic