ArticlePsychopharmacology2020
Screening selected medicinal plants for potential anxiolytic activity using an in vivo zebrafish model.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Skeletons in the closet? Using a bibliometric lens to visualise phytochemical and pharmacological activities linked toFrontiers in plant science · 2024Pooled it
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- ZembrinMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
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- Efficacy and Safety of Herbal Supplements with Anxiolytic, Antidepressant, and Sedative Action: A Review of Clinical Data and Toxicological Risks.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Role of NR1D1 in Bisphenol A-Induced Anxiety-like Behavior and Inflammation in Zebrafish Larvae.Toxics · 2025Article
- Article
- Permeation of Phytochemicals of Selected Psychoactive Medicinal Plants across Excised Sheep Respiratory and Olfactory Epithelial Tissues.Pharmaceutics · 2023Article
- Deficiency ofiScience · 2022Article
- Autism-Risk GeneFrontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Article
- A Chewable Cure "Kanna": Biological and Pharmaceutical Properties ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Zebrafish as a Useful Tool in the Research of Natural Products With Potential Anxiolytic Effects.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleMedicinal plants are used extensively in many countries to treat conditions related to the central nervous system (CNS), and there is renewed interest to explore natural products, which may exhibit CNS activity.
objectiveIn this study, seven plants were selected based on literature reports of their ethnopharmacological use in treating anxiety-related conditions and assayed in a zebrafish model.
methodsCrude extracts were prepared with solvents of different polarities, and the maximum tolerated concentration (MTC) of these crude extracts was established. The anxiolytic activity of the crude extracts was determined using 5-day post-fertilization (dpf) zebrafish larvae. General locomotor activity and reverse-thigmotaxis behavior (indicative of anxiolytic activity) were analyzed under continuous illumination and alternating light-dark challenges, which induced anxiety in the zebrafish larvae.
resultsOf the 28 extracts tested, 13 were toxic according to the MTC values obtained. Larvae were subsequently treated with the 15 non-toxic extracts, at a dose determined in the MTC assay or with 1% DMSO as control. The anxiolytic activity (reverse-thigmotaxis) was demonstrated by an increase in the percentage time spent by the larvae in the central arena of the well. Of the 15 non-toxic extracts tested, the Sceletium tortuosum water extract exhibited the most promising anxiolytic activity.
conclusionsThe zebrafish model was effective in studying anxiety-related behavior. Thus, the study confirmed that S. tortuosum mitigates anxiety in zebrafish larvae, a step towards the full in vivo validation of the traditional use of the plant.
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