Herbal Therapy: Herbal Anise In Expression of Antidepressant-like Activity

Kyle J. Norton 

Anise may have a potential and substantial effect in reduced risk and treatment of dpression, some scientists suggested.

Anise is a flowering plant ofthe species of Pimpinella anisum, genus Pimpinella, belonging to the family Apiaceae native to to Egypt and the Mediterranean region, used in traditional herbal medicine as fragrance in soaps, oils, and mouth fresheners and stomachic, anti-septic, anti-spasmodic, ....

Chemical comstituents
Anethole, D-pinene, I-phellandrene, Alpha-terpineol, Safrol, Methyl chavicol, Resin, Shikimic acid, etc.

Depression is a condition of mood disorder. affecting the patients feel, think, and handle daily activities.

According to statistic of The National Institute of Mental Health, approximately, 16 million adults had at least one major depressive episode in 2012 in the United States, a 6.9 percent of the population.

In the evaluation of the herbal Anise aqueous and ethanol extracts antidepressant-like effect in mice with several different doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg in compared to the standard medicine Fluoxetine at dose of 30mg/kg and and imipramine at dose of 20mg/kg, researchers at the joint study lead by the Azad University showed that except the dose at 50mg/kg of aqueous extract, application of other doses demonstrated a linearly significant improvement of mobility times.

Further analysis also found that all doses from Anise extract increased the swimming time dose-dependently, without any significant change in climbing time in tested mice similar to those of Fluoxetine and in compared to aqueous extract.

Moreover, Fluoxetine and imipramine expressed a strong decreased immobility time in both tests in contrast to imipramine increased climbing time without any significant change in swimming time.

The result suggested that both extracts in dose higher than 50mg/kg display antidepressant-like activity similar to that of fluoxetine through improved mobility of depressed mice as inactivity is considered as one of major symptoms in patients with depression.  

As the depression progressed, patients demonstrated a behavior in making efforts to escape from society, eventually will exhibit immobility with reflection of psychological despair.

Dr. Shahamat Z the lead author said, " P. anisum possesses an antidepressant-like activity similar to that of fluoxetine, which has a potential clinical value for application in the management of depression".

Additionally, in the testing essential (volatile) oil and essential oil of Piper laetispicum antidepressant activity in compared to Fluoxetine as standard antidepressant drug and other natural remedies including Leaves-Bay, Curry, Coriander and Mint; Fruits-Star anise, Pepper, Cardamom, Caraway and Fennel; Seeds of Fenugreek, Mustard, Nutmeg and Black Cumin; and Underground stem-Onion, Garlic, Ginger and Turmeric; Miscellaneous-Clove, Cinnamon, Capsicum, Tamarind and Asafoetida, reserachers found that all participated essential oil, specially anise produced a significant reduction in immobility along with an increase in climbing behavior  similar to those of fluoxetine. 

The application of  essential oil caused a dose -dependent reduction( probably in dose less than 50 mg/kg) in immobility which is contracted to the above study and an increase in climbing at all studied doses in compared to control group.

However, the test may not take into effect in real life patients who need to be treated for at least several weeks before they experience any relief from expression of symptoms.

Further more, in the examine of the efficacy of anise oil, in removing the symptoms of mild to moderate depression in patients with irritable bowel syndrome of a total of 120 randomly assigned into 3 equal groups received anise oil, Colpermin, and placebo, at the end of the study, scientists showed that application of anise group exerted a continuously improvement of the syndrome in compared to the other 2 groups with some unknown mechanisms. 

Some researchers postulated that essential oil smell may have a profound effect to the brain in triggering emotional reaction in stimulating the limbic system in regulated autonomic and endocrine function, particularly, in response to emotional stimuli in expression of motivation and reinforcing behaviors.

 Additionally, the application of essential oil scent also have a direct influence in calming the central nervous system in ameliorated over production of certain hormones in reacted to the unfavorably emotional behaviors.

Taken together, Anise essential oil may be used as a secondary therapy to standard medicine in treatment of depression.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrients, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published on line, including world wide health, ezine articles, article base, healthblogs, selfgrowth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bio science, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Evaluation of antidepressant-like effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Pimpinella anisum fruit in mice by Shahamat Z1, Abbasi-Maleki S2, Mohammadi Motamed S3.(PubMed)
(2) Effectiveness of Anise Oil for Treatment of Mild to Moderate Depression in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome. A Randomized Active and Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial by Maryam Mosaffa-Jahromi, PharmD, PhD, Ali-Mohammad Tamaddon, PharmD, PhD, Suleiman Afsharypuor, PharmD, PhD, Alireza Salehi, MD, MPH, PhD, Seyed Hassan Seradj, PharmD, PhD, Mehdi Pasalar MD, MPH, PhD, Peyman Jafari, PhD, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani, MD (Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine)
(3) Essential oil isolation from culinary drugs and screening for antidepressant potential Mohib Abdul Jalil Khan , Imtiyaz Ansari, Amjad Ali Mohammad Iqbal Oriental College of Pharmacy, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra- 400705, India.(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCES INPHARMACY MEDICINE AND BIOALLIED SCIENCES)
(4) The Forced Swim Test as a Model of Depressive-like Behavior by Roni Yankelevitch-Yahav, 1 , 2 Motty Franko, 2 Avrham Huly, 2 and Ravid Doron(PMC)

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