Medicinal Plants: A Complementary and Alternative Antidepressant Therapy

Abstract

There is enough data available now to believe that nature has provided cure of almost every ailment through herbal medicine or management. Therefore, now there is lot of emphasis on identification, evaluation, development and characterization of numerous plants and their active constituents against several diseases including depression. Depression is not only one of the most common ailments but also a highly complex condition to study. Even though several antidepressant drugs are available now, yet their effectiveness and usefulness are highly questionable especially because of their side effects. As herbal remedies are generally associated with favourable safety profiles therefore they have the possible potential to deliver effective replacements to currently available synthetic antidepressants. More recently, efforts have been focused on characterization of pharmacologically active ingredients and to identify the mode of action of herbal antidepressant medicines. This review describes a brief introduction of different animal models for depression and discusses the advantages and disadvantages for each approach. Then we have summarized possible plant phytochemicals as antidepressant drug and their underlying mechanisms. In the main body of the review, we have discussed in detail the most frequently used plants (21) being investigated for the treatment of depression. Additionally, we have provided the list of medicinal plants (92) representing their origin, parts used, extraction method, evaluation method and possible active ingredient. In the final part of the review we have presented the summary of clinical trials on the use of medical plants for depression and their active constituents.

Lifestyle Adjustments in Long-COVID Management: Potential Benefits of Plant-Based Diets

“…Quercetin was shown to decrease this neurotransmitter breakdown [58] and prevented depression-like behavior in animal studies [61][62][63]. It is exclusively found in plantfoods; thus, a plant-based eating pattern abundant in fruits, vegetables, and legumes enhances its intake and has been proposed as a promising approach for the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression [53].…”

Medicinal Plants in the Treatment of Depression: Evidence from Preclinical Studies

“…Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, animals cannot provide information regarding core symptoms of depression such as depressed mood, suicide ideation, low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, and excessive or inappropriate guilt. However, depression and other related disorders involve several endophenotypes [31] that can be approached separately with different animal tests to also provide important evidence regarding the potential activity of medicinal plants as antidepressant agents. On the one hand, the FST and TST are the 2 principal animal models measuring behavioral distress in mice and/or rats.…”

Antidepressant-Like Activity of Methanolic Extract of the Seeds of <i>Trachysperum ammi</i> in Swiss Albino Mice

“…The beneficial effect of Imipramine hydrochloride in TST model seems to be due to increased availability of these neurotransmitters (NE) and serotonin (5HT) at the postsynaptic site following reuptake inhibition [35]. Some researchers already have shown the adaptogenic effect of the plant extract via normalization of the various stress parameters and monoaminergic levels [36]. Those studies may provide a hint about extract which involved in possible antidepressant-like effect through the restoration of normal monoaminergic NE [37].…”