Chun-Tao Che

Elaine Elisabetsky

Frontiers in Psychiatry

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TYPE EditorialPUBLISHED 26 July 2022DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.929139OPEN ACCESSEDITED BYZhang-Jin Zhang,The University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong SAR, ChinaREVIEWED BYYonghong Liu,South China Sea Institute ofOceanology (CAS), ChinaMarcus Scotti,Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil*CORRESPONDENCEElaine Elisabetskyelaine.elisabetsky@gmail.comSPECIALTY SECTIONThis article was submitted toPsychopharmacology,a section of the journalFrontiers in PsychiatryRECEIVED 26 April 2022ACCEPTED 11 July 2022PUBLISHED 26 July 2022CITATIONElisabetsky E and Che C-T (2022)Editorial: Natural products as sourcesof innovative approaches in psychiatry.Front. Psychiatry 13:929139.doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.929139COPYRIGHT© 2022 Elisabetsky and Che. This is anopen-access article distributed underthe terms of the Creative CommonsAttribution License (CC BY). The use,distribution or reproduction in otherforums is permitted, provided theoriginal author(s) and the copyrightowner(s) are credited and that theoriginal publication in this journal iscited, in accordance with acceptedacademic practice. No use, distributionor reproduction is permitted whichdoes not comply with these terms.Editorial: Natural products assources of innovativeapproaches in psychiatryElaine Elisabetsky1* and Chun-Tao Che21Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2Collegeof Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United StatesKEYWORDSnatural products, mental disorders, drug development, innovative antidepressants,medicinal plants revisitedEditorial on the Research TopicNatural products as sources of innovative approaches in psychiatryBetween 1981 and 2010, more than thirty percent of the new medicines approvedby the US FDA were based on natural products and/or their derivatives. Advantages ofnatural products in terms of drugability and bioactivity have been brilliantly reviewedand summarized by Harvey et al. (1) and Skirycz et al. (2), in part explaining whythe vast majority of drugs have a close match with natural products (1). Today wealso witness global interest in the use of plant-based therapies and botanical healthcareproducts. Such a trend has stimulated greater scientific awareness in exploring thepharmacologically active constituents of medicinal plants. This Special Issue is intendedto be a compilation of scientific reports to demonstrate the potential of natural productsfor the management of psychiatric disorders. It is our hope that this Special Issue wouldserve those researchers who are interested in potentially useful molecules from naturalsources for psychiatric applications.The anti-depressant-like effects of natural products and herbal preparations weredemonstrated by a series of studies.Zhou et al. reported a Chinese herbal drug (Jie-Yu Pill) to be able to amelioratemood disorder-like behavior and cognitive impairment using a mouse model inducedby a combination of estrogen deprivation and chronic stress, implying the potential ofJie-Yu Pill in managing menopause-associated mood disorders.Studies on depression-like behaviors and cognitive dysfunction was extended tomicrogravity and social isolation scenarios. Wang et al. reported that dammaranesapogenins (obtained from ginseng) could reverse the depressive-like behaviors andimprove cognitive impairment in rats, and concluded that the protective effects mightbe driven in part by the modulation of cholinergic system in the hippocampus.Frontiers in Psychiatry 01 frontiersin.orgElisabetsky and Che 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.929139In a study by Ayuob et al., Ocimum basilicum essentialoil was given to mice under chronic unpredictable mild stress(CUMS) in order to assess the effectiveness of the preparationon the main olfactory bulb (MOB). Their results revealedimprovements in both biochemical and histopathologicalchanges in the MOB. They suggested the effect might havebeen attained through an up-regulation of gene expressionof GFAP and Ki67 and down-regulation of Caspase-3 inthe MOB.Jiang et al. reported the protective effect of a Chineseherbal drug (Shen Yuan, composed of Panax ginsengand Polygala tenuifolia) in the rat chronic unpredictablemild stress model. Shen Yuan reversed the depressive-likebehaviors as well as biochemical depressive states correlates,including increased serum corticosterone and proinflammatorycytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) levels, oxidative stressmarkers (SOD, CAT, and MDA), and diminished levels ofhippocampal neurotransmitters (5-HT, DA, and NE) in ratsexposed to CUMS. Furthermore, rats treated with Shen Yuanshowed reduced hippocampus BDNF, p-TrkB, p-Akt, andp-mTOR proteins expression raised by CUMS exposure.The findings pointed to a preventive effect of Shen Yuanagainst hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction,decreased in neurotransmitters levels, reduced oxidativestress, neuroinflammation suppressio, and activation ofthe PI3K/Akt/mTOR-mediated BDNF/TrkB pathway. Allof these effects were thought to be relevant to counteractdepressive states.Curcumin has been reported to exert beneficial effectson managing major depressive disorder. Highlights of thecompound’s clinical and non-clinical effects are presented in areview by Ramaholimihaso et al.A significant amount of attention has recently been given tothe potential therapeutic value of endogenous modulators.Still on depression, Almeida et al. reported theantidepressant-like effects of chronic guanosine in theolfactory bulbectomy (OBX) mouse model. Guanosinereversed the OBX-induced recognition memory impairmentand hyperlocomotion, increase in hippocampal BDNFand redox imbalance. Guanosine also mitigated theOBX-induced hippocampal neuroinflammation andincreased metabolism.Tonon et al. reviewed the evidences of melatonin formanaging depressive states, noting that clinical evidencewas inconsistent in regard to the benefits of melatoninor melatonin agonists in fighting depression, in contrastwith the antidepressant-like effects observed in animalmodels. The authors argue that the understandingof melatonin in therapeutics must include melatoninspecificities as an integrating molecule, associated withentrainment, metabolism, immunity, neurotransmission, andcell homeostasis.Bitencourt et al. reviewed the path that led to thedevelopment of cannabidiol as an antiepileptic drug,highlighting early contributions by Brazilian scientists.Authors elaborated on the idea that CDB development modelcan be used to develop phytocannabinoids for other psychiatricconditions, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stressdisorder (PTSD), addiction, neurodegenerative disorders andautism spectrum disorder (ASD).Cognitive-enhancing effects of the Chinese medicinalplant, Dendrobium nobile, in sleep deprivation-inducedamnesia in mice was reported by Jiang et al.. The resultssuggest amnesia was improved by the treatment in thenovel object recognition and object location recognitiontests. They also reported elevated levels of norepinephrine,dismutase and catalase activities, as well as a decrease in5-HT and malondialdehyde, in the brain tissue obtainedfrom the Dendrobium treated group. The authors concludethat D. nobile extract has beneficial effects in the preventionand improvement of cognitive impairment induced bysleep deprivation, effects possibly mediated throughthe regulation of neurotransmitters and alleviation ofoxidative stress.Bian et al. reviewed clinical and pre-clinical results ofsaffron (dried stigma of Crocus sativus) and its constituents(crocin, crocetin and safranal) on brain disorders. Thereview covers a range of pathologies such as depression,anxiety, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy, andstroke. Preclinical studies showed that saffron exerts itsneuroprotective effects mostly via antioxidative stress,anti-neuroinflammation, and anti-apoptosis pathways.Clinical results supported that saffron could alleviatedepressive and anxiety-like symptoms as well as improvecognition impairment. The authors suggested that thesefindings had provided a clear perspective that could aid thedevelopment of neuroprotective agents from saffron and itsbioactive ingredients.Zhao et al. suggest that bulleyaconitine A (BAA), aC19-diterpenoid alkaloid used in China for decades asnonnarcotic analgesic to treat chronic pain, is a candidatefor treatment of opioids addiction. They showed thatBAA attenuates morphine-induced withdrawal symptomsin mice, conditioned place preference and locomotorsensitization by stimulation of microglial (but not astrocytesor neurons) dynorphin A expression in nucleus accumbensand hippocampus.Marx et al. reported a secondary analysis of a randomizedplacebo-controlled trial that investigated a 24-weeksintervention with mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana Linn.)pericarp extract supplementation in people diagnosed withschizophrenia. The secondary analysis investigated if theintervention was effective to improve cognition in thisFrontiers in Psychiatry 02 frontiersin.orgElisabetsky and Che 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.929139population and revealed that mangosteen pericarp extract didnot affect cognitive outcomes in people with schizophrenia.In conclusion, the above studies illustrates thepotential of natural products against various psychiatricconditions. As usual in drug development, to bettercharacterize and understand their medicinal properties,additional preclinical and clinical investigationsare warranted.Author contributionsEE and C-TC contributed equally to the concept andexecution of this editorial. All authors contributed to the articleand approved the submitted version.Conflict of interestThe authors declare that the research was conducted in theabsence of any commercial or financial relationships that couldbe construed as a potential conflict of interest.Publisher’s noteAll claims expressed in this article are solely those of theauthors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliatedorganizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and thereviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, orclaim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteedor endorsed by the publisher.References1. Harvey AL, Edrada-Ebel R, Quinn RJ. The re-emergence of natural productsfor drug discovery in the genomics era. Nat Rev Drug Discov. (2015) 14:111–29. doi: 10.1038/nrd45102. Skirycz A, Kierszniowska S, Méret M, Willmitzer L, Tzotzos G. Medicinalbioprospecting of the Amazon Rainforest: a modern Eldorado? Trends Biotechnol.(2016) 34:781–90. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2016.03.006Frontiers in Psychiatry 03 frontiersin.org

Editorial: Natural products as sources of innovative approaches in psychiatry

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Editorial: Natural products as sources of innovative approaches in psychiatry

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