Therapeutic Potential of Natural Phytocompounds and Plant Extracts for Depression. A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a social condition that has a substantial financial impact on society. MDD has an unclear origin; that’s why it has been proposed to have complex pathophysiology. Depressive disorders occur due to many factors, i.e., somatic genetic and environmental factors and anomalies in hypothalamic function. Current medicines used for depression are Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and Atypical antidepressants; there are many side effects reported with these medicines like hyponatremia, erectile dysfunction, and addiction are significant problems with these. There is a need to find effective agents which have high efficacy and low adverse effects. Because of encouraging experimental results, many emphases have been focused on phytocompounds such as flavonoids and green tea catechins in recent times. This review has compiled phytocompounds and plant extracts that have shown substantial efficacy against antidepression targets. These compounds and plant extract attenuate depression by several mechanisms like increasing the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), decreasing oxidative stress markers, and attenuating dysfunctions in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis), neurogenesis, and by several more pathways.