Results: Pretreatment of rats with venlafaxine (40 mg/kg) resulted in a significant decrease in paw oedema as compared to control (2.4 ± 0.15 to 1.1 ± 0.16 ml, P<0.01). Similarly, in the group pretreated with fluoxetine, significant decrease in paw oedema was observed in comparison to control (P<0.05). Significant change in mean blood pressure was seen in rats pretreated with venlafaxine 40 mg/kg (126.7 ± 4.2 to 155.2 ± 9.7, P<0.05) and fluoxetine (143.5 ± 2.6 to 158.3 ± 1.2, P<0.05) on day 7. No significant difference with regard to gastric tolerability was observed among groups.