Antidepressant-Like Effect of Lippia sidoides CHAM (Verbenaceae) Essential Oil and Its Major Compound Thymol in Mice

Abstract

Depression is a common disease affecting more than 300 million people worldwide. Since has shown central nervous system effects in previous works, we aimed to investigate the effect of essential oil and its major compound, thymol on a corticosterone-induced depression model in mice. Male mice (20⁻25 g) received corticosterone (20 mg/kg, subcutaneously), once a day for 22 days. From the 16th day on, mice were grouped to receive either corticosterone or essential oil (100 and 200 mg/kg), or thymol (25 and 50 mg/kg) or fluoxetine (35 mg/kg) by gavage. The forced swimming test, tail suspension, open field, elevated plus maze and sucrose preference tests were performed from the 19th to 22nd day. Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by the Student-Newman-Keuls as a post hoc test and the results were considered significant when < 0.05. It was shown that essential oil, thymol and fluoxetine decreased the immobility time in the tail suspension and forced swimming tests and none of these altered locomotor activity in the open field test. However, the drugs increased the amount of grooming. In the elevated plus maze, all drugs increased the number of entries and the time of permanence in the open arms. In the sucrose preference test, the essential oil, thymol and fluoxetine reversed anhedonia. These results suggest that the thymol and essential oil have an antidepressant-like effect, similar to fluoxetine. However, future studies should be encouraged to enhance understanding of the effects of essential oil and thymol for the treatment of depression.

Chemical Composition of Essential Oil from Flower of ‘Shanzhizi’ (Gardenia jasminoides Ellis) and Involvement of Serotonergic System in Its Anxiolytic Effect

“…To investigate involvements of the monoamine neurotransmitter system in the anxiolytic effect of GEO, three neurotransmitter receptor antagonists were pretreated before the odor exposure and the monoamine neurotransmitters contents in different brain regions after aroma inhalation were analyzed. WAY100635, a highly selective 5-HT1A antagonist, was reported to exhibit a blocking effect on the anxiolytic effect induced by some essential oils, such as lavender oil, which was thought to have an anxiolytic effect through serotonergic but not GABA A /benzodiazepine neurotransmission [ 18 ]. Sulpiride, a dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist, was reported to block the antidepressant-like effect of marjoram oil [ 19 ].…”

Factors Affecting the Retention Efficiency and Physicochemical Properties of Spray Dried Lipid Nanoparticles Loaded with Lippia sidoides Essential Oil

“…The main bioactive compounds in the EO of Lippia sidoides are monoterpenes, like thymol, p-cymene, myrcene, and the sesquiterpene, as caryophyllene [39][40][41]. These compounds are responsible for the biological properties of this EO, i.e., antimicrobial, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities [42][43][44].…”

Anticonvulsant Essential Oils and Their Relationship with Oxidative Stress in Epilepsy

“…This compound is also found in the species Lippia sidoides Cham. [258], Satureja macrostema Moc. & Sessé ex Benth [259] and Ocimum gratissimum L. [260].…”