Background & aim: Medicinal herbs with natural materials can be effective and have fewer side effects than drugs with chemical composition in reducing withdrawal symptoms and are more effective in treating addiction. In recent years, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-anxiety effects of Dill has been reported. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Dill ethanol extract on some withdrawal syndrome behaviors such as jumping, standing, climbing in male mice addicted to morphine.

Methods: The present experimental study was conducted on 21 male NMRI mice with weighting 25 to 30 gr. Animals were divided into three groups: Group 1 received saline + naloxone (SN),  group 2 received morphine + saline + naloxone (MSN) and the third group received   morphine + ethanol extract of dill (500 mg kg ip) + naloxone (MDN) respectively. Simultaneous with the injection of morphine, the dill extract was injected at the same time. In order to induce the development of morphine dependence, the mice received increasing doses of morphine (10, 20, 30, and 40 mg) during four days for ten times, respectively. To induce the withdrawal symptom, two hours after the last injection of morphine, naloxone at a dose of 5 mg kg was injected intraperitoneally. Two hours after the last injection of morphine, naloxone at a dose of 5 mg/kg was injected intraperitoneally. Jumping, standing on both feet and climbing the walls were counted during 30 minutes. The data were analyzed using the software Graph Pad prism.

Results: The results showed that the ethanol extract of plant significantly reduces the number of jumping due to naloxone injection in the addicted rats (p <0.001), but in the rearing behaviors and climb the walls of the container, a significant difference was observed with morphine.

Conclusions: The findings suggested that the Dill Ethanolic extract can decrease the jumping number due to Naloxone-induced effect.  Therefore, Dill Ethanolic extract may have an impact in reducing of withdrawal induction by morphine.