Clinical Investigation of the Antidepressant Effectiveness of Hypericum

Abstract

To date, 25 controlled therapy studies have investigated the antidepressive effectiveness of hypericum extracts. A total of 1592 treatment cases have been included. The dosage was typically 300 to 900 mg total extract daily; therapy duration was 2 to 6 weeks. Fifteen studies were performed comparing hypericum extracts with placebo, 10 studies as comparative studies. This paper presents an overview of their results.

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of Hypericum brasiliense (Willd) standardized extract

“…The genus Hypericum has been used worldwide to treat pain, infl ammation and specially depression (Harrer & Schulz, 1994;Linde et al, 1996;Vorbach et al, 1997;Wheatly, 1997;Volz, 1997;Apaydin et al, 1999;Jakovljevie et al, 2000). It is a promising antiinfl ammatory drug in chronic diseases (Apaydin et al, 1999), as well as in acute process, which could be in part related to their modulation of COX-2 expression (Shipochliev et al, 1981).…”

“…Plants belonging to the genus Hypericum (Guttiferae) are well known for their use as antidepressant (Harrer & Schulz 1994;Linde et al, 1996;Vorbach et al, 1997;Wheatly, 1997;Volz, 1997), analgesic (Apaydin et al, 1999), spasmolytic (Jakovljevie et al, 2000;Viana et al, 2007), among other applications (Nepomuceno et al, 2005;Cordeiro et al, 2005;Fritz et al, 2007).…”

In vitro receptor screening of pure constituents of St. John's wort reveals novel interactions with a number of GPCRs

“…Extracts of SJW, which gained widespread popularity as "nature's Prozac", are widely prescribed in Germany and frequently in the USA as a popular over-the-counter preparation (Linde et al 1996). The antidepressant efficacy of Hypericum extracts has been confirmed in several clinical studies (Harrer and Schulz 1994;Volz 1997;Philipp et al 1999;Brenner et al 2000;Schrader 2000;Woelk 2000). Recently a large scale negative study by Shelton et al (2001) raised concerns about the effectiveness of St. John's wort in depression although it should be emphasized that in this clinical trial patients with severe depression were included, an indication for which St. John's wort is not approved in any country.…”

Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Hypericum sp. on brine shrimps and human cancer cell lines

“…Plants of the genus Hypericum are widely used in folk medicine (Newall et al, 1996) and several phytochemical investigations have led to the isolation of antimicrobial, antibacterial and antiviral bioactive compounds (Ishiguro et al, 1990;Rosha et al, 1995;Yip et al, 1996). Even though important pharmacological properties have been attributed to extracts of Hypericum species (Mantle et al, 2000) H. perforatum is used in herbal medicine externally for the treatment of skin wounds and burns and internally, for the treatment of depression (Blumenthal, 1998;Harrer and Schulz, 1994;Linde et al, 1996;Vorbach et al, 1997;Wheatly, 1997;Volz, 1997). In the framework of our chemical and biological investigations on plant species (Couladis et al, 2000, Badisa et al, 2000, ten Hypericum samples collected from different areas in Greece were screened on brine shrimps, human colon carcinoma and human hepatoma cell lines.…”