Meta-Analysis
on some Plant Extracts Benefits on Neuropsychiatric Disorders Models Studied in
Zebrafish
Mădălina GHIDERSA #1 , Ana-Maria NEGRU #1 , Gabriel PLAVAN *1 , Alin CIOBICA 1,2,3 , Eman H. RASHWAN 4
1 Department of Research, Faculty of Biology,
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, B dul Carol I, no 11, Iasi, Romania
2 Academy of Romanian Scientists, Splaiul
Independentei nr. 54, sector 5, 050094 Bucuresti, Romania
3 Center of Biomedical Research, Romanian Academy,
Iasi, B dul Carol I, no 8, Romania
4 Department of Animal Hygiene and Management, Faculty
of veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
# These authors equally contributed to this work
*Corresponding author at : gabriel.plavan@uaic.ro
Abstract
Background. Nowadays society
becomes increasingly interested in plant-based alternatives in order to treat
various diseases. Humans worldwide are diagnosed with neuropsychiatric
disorders like epilepsy, autism, Alzheimer s disease, Parkinson s disease, or
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and, consequently, research has
been done in order to analyse different plant extracts effects in their
treatment, considering the various side effects conventional drugs could have.
Judging by the neuroanatomical similarities to the human body and due to the
advantages it has as experimental purpose animal, zebrafish (Danio rerio) has
been preferred throughout the past years in the detriment of mammalian animal
models. Objectives. This study aims to analyse the specialized literature
regarding the benefits of phytotherapy in neuropsychiatric disorders treatment,
using the zebrafish as animal model. Methods. This systematic analysis
involved search engines like PubMed, Zfin, Semantic Scholar, Microsoft
Academic, Scite and BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine). Publications from
1960-2021 were used only, and reviews, conference articles or video/audio information
were not selected in order to avoid redundancy, while journal articles were
preferred. Different key words combinations were used to collect the articles
related to the subject of interest. Results. Analysing the collected
data, it can be concluded that zebrafish is increasingly used in behavioural,
toxicological, or genetical research as descriptive or experimental model.
Also, there is an expanding interest in using this species to investigate phytotherapy's
benefits in neuropsychiatric disorders treatment.
Keywords: : phytotherapy, neuropsychiatry,
zebrafish, plant extracts
DOI https://doi.org/10.56082/annalsarscibio.2021.2.79