PUBLICATION
Maerua angolensis stem bark extract reverses anxiety and related behaviours in zebrafish-involvement of GABAergic and 5-HT systems
- Authors
- Kwaku Benneh, C., Peter Biney, R., Kolibea Mante, P., Tandoh, A., Wewura Adongo, D., Woode, E.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-170625-5
- Date
- 2017
- Source
- Journal of ethnopharmacology 207: 129-145 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- 5-HT, Anxiolytic, GABA(A) receptor, Maerua angolensis, Zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Anti-Anxiety Agents/isolation & purification
- Anti-Anxiety Agents/pharmacology*
- Anxiety/drug therapy*
- Behavior, Animal/drug effects
- Capparaceae/chemistry*
- Desipramine/pharmacology
- Diazepam/pharmacology
- Disease Models, Animal
- Locomotion/drug effects
- Motor Activity/drug effects
- Plant Bark
- Receptors, GABA-A/metabolism
- Serotonin/metabolism
- Stress, Psychological/drug therapy
- Zebrafish
- gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/metabolism
- PubMed
- 28645783 Full text @ J. Ethnopharmacol.
Citation
Kwaku Benneh, C., Peter Biney, R., Kolibea Mante, P., Tandoh, A., Wewura Adongo, D., Woode, E. (2017) Maerua angolensis stem bark extract reverses anxiety and related behaviours in zebrafish-involvement of GABAergic and 5-HT systems. Journal of ethnopharmacology. 207:129-145.
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance Maerua angolensis DC (Capparaceae) has been employed in the management of several central nervous system (CNS) disorders including anxiety. This study evaluated the anxiolytic effects of the petroleum ether/ethyl acetate fraction stem bark extract and its possible mechanism(s) using zebrafish anxiety models.
Methods Adult zebrafish, tested in the novel tank and light dark tests, have shown by previous authors to be sensitive to the anxiolytic effects of known anxiolytic drugs. Adult zebrafish were treated with M. angolensis extract, fluoxetine, desipramine, and diazepam followed by testing in the novel tank and light dark tests. We further assessed the effect of the extract on anxiety after inducing an anxiogenic phenotype using the ethanol-withdrawal and chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) tests. The anxiolytic effect was further investigated after pretreatment with flumazenil, granisetron, cyproheptadine, methysergide and pizotifen.
Results M. angolensis extract, similar to fluoxetine and desipramine, demonstrated significant anxiolytic behaviour at doses that did not reduce locomotor activity significantly. Similar anxiolytic effects were recorded in the ethanol withdrawal-induced anxiety test. Furthermore, the anxiogenic effects induced by the CUS paradigm were significantly reversed by treatment M. angolensis extract and fluoxetine. The anxiolytic effects of M. angolensis extract were however reversed after pre-treatment with flumazenil, granisetron, cyproheptadine, methysergide and pizotifen.
Conclusions Taken together, this suggests that the petroleum ether/ ethyl acetate fraction of M. angolensis possesses significant anxiolytic activity, which could partly be accounted for by an interaction with the serotoninergic system and the GABAA receptor.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping