The sensitivity of adult zebrafish to clinically relevant neuroactive (sedative) effects of extracts of selected traditional Chinese medicine herbs.

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.