TY - JOUR
T1 - The sensitivity of adult zebrafish to clinically relevant neuroactive (sedative) effects of extracts of selected traditional Chinese medicine herbs
AU - Wang, Dongmei
AU - Yang, Longen
AU - Galstyan, David S.
AU - de Abreu, Murilo S.
AU - Kalueff, Allan V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Rationale: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) continues to play an important role in modern medicine. TCM herbs are commonly used to treat various brain disorders, including anxiety and depression. Complementing rodent studies, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a promising new model organism for modeling brain disorders and neuroactive drug discovery. Objectives: The present study aimed to develop adult zebrafish-based screens to test potential neurotropic effects of water extracts of selected neuroactive TCM herbs. Methods: Zebrafish behavior was tested in 5-min novel tank and light-dark box tests following acute 20-min exposure to various concentrations of water extracts of ginseng, saffron, St. John’s wort, lavender, passiflora and albizia, chosen here for their well-known therapeutic anxiolytic/sedative effects clinically and in rodent models. Results: All TCM extracts tested evoked overt dose-dependent sedative-like effects in zebrafish in both behavioral tests, consistent with their neuroactive profiles known clinically. Conclusions: Collectively, our study demonstrates high sensitivity of zebrafish to neuroactive effect of TCM herbs, suggesting these fish as a valid, promising, feasible and clinically relevant screen for studying neurotropic activity of TCM herbs in-vivo.
AB - Rationale: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) continues to play an important role in modern medicine. TCM herbs are commonly used to treat various brain disorders, including anxiety and depression. Complementing rodent studies, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a promising new model organism for modeling brain disorders and neuroactive drug discovery. Objectives: The present study aimed to develop adult zebrafish-based screens to test potential neurotropic effects of water extracts of selected neuroactive TCM herbs. Methods: Zebrafish behavior was tested in 5-min novel tank and light-dark box tests following acute 20-min exposure to various concentrations of water extracts of ginseng, saffron, St. John’s wort, lavender, passiflora and albizia, chosen here for their well-known therapeutic anxiolytic/sedative effects clinically and in rodent models. Results: All TCM extracts tested evoked overt dose-dependent sedative-like effects in zebrafish in both behavioral tests, consistent with their neuroactive profiles known clinically. Conclusions: Collectively, our study demonstrates high sensitivity of zebrafish to neuroactive effect of TCM herbs, suggesting these fish as a valid, promising, feasible and clinically relevant screen for studying neurotropic activity of TCM herbs in-vivo.
KW - CNS drugs
KW - Preclinical screening
KW - Sedative effects
KW - Traditional Chinese medicines
KW - Zebrafish models
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105020649141
U2 - 10.1007/s00213-025-06941-5
DO - 10.1007/s00213-025-06941-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105020649141
SN - 0033-3158
JO - Psychopharmacology
JF - Psychopharmacology
ER -