The psychoactive effects of Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Oken leaves in young zebrafish

Abstract

Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Oken (BP) is a plant that is used worldwide to treat inflammation, infections, anxiety, restlessness, and sleep disorders. While it is known that BP leaves are rich in flavonoids, the extent of the beneficial and toxic effects of its crude extracts remains unclear. Although some neurobehavioral studies using leaf extracts have been conducted, none has examined the effects of water-extracted leaf samples. The zebrafish is a powerful animal model used to gain insights into the efficacy and toxicity profiles of this plant due to its high fecundity, external development, and ease of performing behavioral assays. In this study, we performed behavioral testing after acute exposure to different concentrations of aqueous extract from leaves of B. pinnatum (LABP) on larval zebrafish, investigating light/dark preference, thigmotaxis, and locomotor activity parameters under both normal and stressed conditions. LABP demonstrated dose-and time-dependent biphasic effects on larval behavior. Acute exposure (25 min) to 500 mg/L LABP resulted in decreased locomotor activity. Exposure to 300 mg/L LABP during the sleep cycle decreased dark avoidance and thigmotaxis while increasing swimming velocity. After sleep deprivation, the group treated with 100 mg/L LABP showed decreased dark avoidance and increased velocity. After a heating stressor, the 30 mg/L and 300 mg/L LABP-treated groups showed decreased dark avoidance. These results suggest both anxiolytic and psychoactive effects of LABP in a dose-dependent manner in a larval zebrafish model. These findings provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying relevant behavioral effects, consequently supporting the safe and effective use of LABP for the treatment of mood disorders.

Acute Antidepressant Activity Investigation of Selected African Medicinal Plants in Mice: A Preliminary Study

“…Again, this finding is one of the few, if not the first and only, reports on the antidepressant activity of B. pinnatum leaf extracts. The observed antidepressant activity of CEBP in this study may be related to a previous report of acute anxiolytic activity in young zebra fish [81]. T. catappa, T. dodoneifolius and B. pinnatum whose crude ethanol leaf extracts are investigated in this study, are widely used medicinal plants with efficacy in the traditional treatments of diverse disease spectrums.…”

Acute Toxicity and Anxiolytic Activity Screening of Hydroalcoholic Leaf Extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum, Terminalia catappa and Tapinanthus dodoneifolius Growing on Terminalia catappa Tree in MIce

“…These findings are in agreement with previous reports of similar anxiolytic, antidepressant and cognition-enhancing activities of T.dodoneifolius extracts [64] and anxiolytic activity of its congener T.globiferus extracts [65,66] in mice activity. They are also similar to previous reports of anxiolytic activity of B. pinnatum and its congener K. pinnata extracts in young zebrafish and rodents [40,84]. Anxiolytic activity reports on T. catappa were scanty but it has been reported to exhibit significant antidepressant effect in rodents subjected to chronic unpredictable stress [85].…”

“…Previous studies have shown extracts of B. pinnatum and its congeners to exert dosedependent anticonvulsant activity, antidiabetic, anxiolytic, hypnotic and muscle relaxant effects in rodents [37][38][39], and antidiabetic and anxiolytic effects in young Zebra fish [40]. However, scientific reports on the anxiolytic activity of k. pinnata are scanty and this study, therefore, aims to investigate its acute anxiolytic effect in mice in the open field test.…”

Bioactive Compounds from Kalanchoe Genus Potentially Useful for the Development of New Drugs

“…Despite the growing number of studies describing pharmacological actions of Kalanchoe extracts, and the knowledge about flavonoids as important chemical constituents in this genus, most of the studies have just reported the presence of these molecules, without properly investigating their bioactive behavior. Indeed, several of these studies only suggest the potential role of flavonoids in a given activity [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ], without assessing the isolated compound to confirm its bioactivity. The characterization of bioactive compounds is important not only to define the molecules responsible for a given biological property, but also for the development of phytomedicines.…”