The study of natural compounds as antidepressants by bioinformatics methods

According to the World Health Organization, the neuropsychiatric disorders pose an increasingly greater burden on health, society and economy of countries. Currently there are strategies to prevent some of these disorders and there are treatments or means to alleviate their symptoms. In the case of depression, the medication consists of antidepressant drugs. Such drugs can also be used in other conditions like anxiety, pain or insomnia. A shortcoming of the currently used antidepressants is the occurrence of side effects that sometimes are unbearable for the patient. In this respect, a promising direction is the usage of medicinal plants. Plant parts are rich in phytochemicals that could be beneficial in mental disorders by acting on various targets. Here we investigated the antidepressant effect of ten natural compounds from sage, mint and citrus. The biological activity of these compounds was investigated by calculating ki values and affinities for dopamine receptor D2, serotonin transporter (SERT) and 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 1A (5HT1A) using Almond-Pentacle software. Our results showed that resveratrol and rutin could be efficient antidepressants.

Acknowledgments. The study was supported by UEFISCDI through the projects PN-III-P2-2.1-PED2019-1471 “New biocompatible shagaol and curcuminoid-like products used as adjuvantes in cancer radiotherapy” and PN-III-P1-1.2-PCCDI-2017-0728 “Integrated project for the development of technologies dedicated to advanced medical treatments”.