• Br. J. Pharmacol. · Jul 2009

    Potential anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects of salvinorin A, the main active ingredient of Salvia divinorum, in rodents.

    • Daniela Braida, Valeria Capurro, Alessia Zani, Tiziana Rubino, Daniela Viganò, Daniela Parolaro, and Mariaelvina Sala.
    • Department of Pharmacology, Chemotherapy and Medical Toxicology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
    • Br. J. Pharmacol. 2009 Jul 1; 157 (5): 844-53.

    Background And PurposeDrugs targeting brain kappa-opioid receptors produce profound alterations in mood. In the present study we investigated the possible anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist salvinorin A, the main active ingredient of Salvia divinorum, in rats and mice.Experimental ApproachExperiments were performed on male Sprague-Dawley rats or male Albino Swiss mice. The anxiolytic-like effects were tested by using the elevated plus maze, in rats. The antidepressant-like effect was estimated through the forced swim (rats) and the tail suspension (mice) test. kappa-Opioid receptor involvement was investigated pretreating animals with the kappa-opioid receptor antagonist, nor-binaltorphimine (1 or 10 mgxkg(-1)), while direct or indirect activity at CB(1) cannabinoid receptors was evaluated with the CB(1) cannabinoid receptor antagonist, N-(piperidin-1-yl) -5-(4-iodophenyl)-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxamide (AM251, 0.5 or 3 mgxkg(-1)), binding to striatal membranes of naïve rats and assay of fatty acid amide hydrolase in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala.Key ResultsSalvinorin A, given s.c. (0.001-1000 microgxkg(-1)), exhibited both anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects that were prevented by nor-binaltorphimine or AM251 (0.5 or 3 mgxkg(-1)). Salvinorin A reduced fatty acid amide hydrolase activity in amygdala but had very weak affinity for cannabinoid CB(1) receptors.Conclusions And ImplicationsThe anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects of Salvinorin A are mediated by both kappa-opioid and endocannabinoid systems and may partly explain the subjective symptoms reported by recreational users of S. divinorum.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.