Title:Berberine: Is it a Promising Agent for Mental Disorders Treatment?
Volume: 16
Author(s): Mehran Shayganfard*
Affiliation:
- Department of Psychiatry, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran
Keywords:
Berberine, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegenerative disease.
Abstract: Effective and better-tolerated agents for the treatment of most of psychiatric disorders
are one of the main challenges. Recently, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants and neuroprotective
agents as adjuvant therapy have been shown to be able to play a role against the degenerative
mechanisms commonly related to psychiatric conditions. Berberine, a biologically active alkaloid
derived from various plants, represents many pharmacological impacts, such as antimicrobial,
antidiabetic, anticancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. This compound also
protects neurons and improves the survival, growth and action of nerve cells due to its high potential
for crossing the blood-brain barrier. Ample evidence reported that berberine had been associated
with CNS-related disorders, including Alzheimer's, cerebral ischemia, mental depression,
schizophrenia and anxiety. Thus, in this review, we aimed to indicate the effectiveness of
berberine on mental disorders