The brain is the center of mental activity, responsible for various physiological functions such as thinking and memory. Mental illness refers to a class of diseases in which brain function is disrupted under the influence of biological, social, psychological, and other factors, leading to abnormal behaviors, emotions, cognition, and other mental activities as clinical manifestations. Mental illnesses are often caused by damage to nerve cells or brain tissue lesions, mainly including depression and anxiety disorders. The onset mechanism of mental illness is not fully understood, but it is mainly related to abnormalities in energy metabolism, oxidative stress, and neurotransmitter metabolism. Despite the continuous development of modern medicine, many chemical drugs have been developed to treat mental illnesses. However, current Western medical treatments have issues such as poor long-term efficacy and significant adverse reactions caused by medication. Therefore, it is crucial to find safe and effective treatments for mental illnesses. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history in the prevention and treatment of mental illnesses in China. With its advantages of multiple components, multiple targets, and multiple pathways, Chinese herbal medicine has shown good therapeutic effects on most mental illnesses, with minimal side effects and high safety. Therefore, the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of Chinese herbal medicine for treating mental illnesses are currently a research focus.
The legume plant Albizia julibrissin Durazz., as a traditional Chinese medicinal material, has shown certain therapeutic effects in the treatment of mental illnesses, with its main medicinal parts being Albizia bark, Albizia flower, and effective components due to their significant neuropharmacological activity attracting wide attention from the academic community. Albizia, originating in Asia, is widely planted in China, North Korea, Japan, and other regions and has long been cultivated as a medicinal plant in China. Albizia is known for its effectiveness in relieving depression, anxiety, and improving symptoms such as palpitations, insomnia, and forgetfulness in patients. Research has shown that Albizia bark and Albizia flower have the richest neuropharmacological activity among the medicinal parts of Albizia, with Albizia flower having a higher content of flavonoids and Albizia bark mainly consisting of saponins. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that various extracts and effective components of Albizia can exert certain pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-obesity, sedative-hypnotic, and antidepressant effects, which are widely recognized for their protective effects on brain tissues. The extracts and effective components of Albizia have broad application and development prospects in the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental illnesses, as they can regulate neurotransmitter expression in the brain, alleviate oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions, and modulate the expression of relevant signaling pathways, thereby exerting various pharmacological mechanisms to improve and treat mental illnesses. The pharmacological effects of Albizia extracts and effective components in the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental illnesses have broad application and development prospects, as they can regulate neurotransmitter expression and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, thereby playing a role in improving and treating mental illnesses. Therefore, this study combines domestic and foreign literature research to summarize the pharmacological effects and related mechanisms of Albizia in the treatment of mental illnesses, bringing new ideas for the research on the use of Albizia in treating mental illnesses.
1 Pharmacological Effects
Albizia exerts its anti-mental illness effects through various pathways. Firstly, by enhancing the functions of neurotransmitters such as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) to improve neural signal transmission, thereby alleviating mental symptoms such as anxiety and depression. Secondly, it exhibits effects similar to antidepressants by regulating the balance of neurochemical substances in the brain and improving emotional stability. At the same time, it plays a role in neuroprotection by reducing brain inflammation and oxidative stress, reducing neuronal damage. In addition, it can also regulate the function of the neuroendocrine system, improve sleep disorders and mood swings, and thereby exert a comprehensive effect in combating mental illnesses.
1.1 Albizia Bark
Albizia bark, a key part of Albizia’s medicinal properties, is rich in bioactive components and is commonly used in the clinical treatment of anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. Xiong Yonghao et al. conducted anxiety mouse models using the elevated plus maze and light-dark box experiments. The anxious mice were randomly divided into five groups: the model group (distilled water), positive control group (diazepam, 2.5 mg/kg), high, medium, and low doses…
2 Working Mechanism
Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Albizia mainly uses Albizia bark and Albizia flower as its main medicinal parts, and its pharmacological mechanisms mainly include regulating the expression of neurotransmitters such as 5-HT, NE, DA, GABA, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation reaction, and regulating related signaling pathways.
2.1 Regulating the Expression of Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters play a crucial role in regulating emotions, and studies have shown that a decrease in neurotransmitter concentrations can lead to the onset of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Albizia can exert its therapeutic effects on mental illnesses by regulating the expression of neurotransmitters.
2.1.1 Albizia Bark Huang Bishan et al. used chemical separation and identification techniques to first extract two components from Albizia’s 70% ethanol extract: (-)-butylresorcinol-4-O-beta-D-furanose-(1-2)-beta-D-pyranosyl-glucose (SAG) and (-)-butylresorcinol-4,4′-bis-beta-D-glucoside (SBG) that have an inhibitory effect on 5-HT reuptake transporter (SERT) activity. They then established a depression cell model in HeLa cells, each well containing SAG and SBG in different concentrations incubated with 70% Albizia ethanol crude extract, 60% ethanol extract, SAG, and SBG for 4 hours. The results show that SAG and SBG effectively inhibit the transfer of the SERT inhibitor 4-[(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)-1-methylpiperidine (APP+) into the cells, and display some inhibitory action on norepinephrine transporter (NET) and dopamine transporter (DAT) regardless of intervention concentration. The closure of the SERT extracellular substrate passage induced by their binding to the SERT variant Y107C is realized by binding, which induces SERT inhibition, increasing the level of neurotransmitters in the synapse, thereby showing an anti-depressive effect. This suggests that Albizia bark and its active ingredients can protect the brain from neuroprotection by increasing the transport capacity of neurotransmitters in the brain, and the potential of its anti-depressive effect is dose-dependent.
Liao Ying et al. used a mouse tail suspension, forced swimming test, and acute restraining to build a model of depressive mice, using Albizia bark aqueous extract as the treatment drug. Their experimental animals were divided into five groups: control group, model group, chlorpromazine positive control group (5 mg/kg), and low and high doses of Albizia bark aqueous extract groups (100, 300 mg/kg), each group was given according to the intragastric route for 7 days, and the indicators were detected 1 hour after the last administration. The results show that the doses of Albizia bark aqueous extract at 100 and 300 mg/kg can reduce the immobility time of mice in the tail suspension test and forced swimming test within 6 minutes, and significantly antagonize the reduction in body temperature and ptosis caused by chlorpromazine in model mice. It is speculated that it may affect the levels of monamine neurotransmitters in the brain, such as 5-HT, norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA). Albizia bark aqueous extract can exert an antidepressant pharmacological effect by modulating neurotransmitters.
### Conclusion and Outlook
Albizia is a medicinal and edible Chinese herbal medicine with a long history of application in China. Its flowers, bark, and other medicinal parts and effective components have a wide range of pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidepressant, sedative, and hypnotic effects. Modern pharmacological research has shown that Albizia bark and Albizia flower have good effects in treating mental illnesses by regulating neurotransmitter expression, improving the antioxidant capacity of the nervous system, reducing the release of inflammatory factors, alleviating inflammatory reactions, and regulating the expression of related signaling pathways. It provides protection to neural tissues, thereby playing a role in treating mental illnesses, widely used in the prevention and treatment of conditions such as depression and anxiety disorders.
Although Albizia has shown promising results in the field of anti-mental illnesses and has certain potential, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. These include insufficient research on the pharmacological material basis of Albizia’s anti-mental illness effects, lack of comprehensive clinical studies, incomplete understanding of its pharmacological mechanisms, and limited studies on adverse reactions and mechanisms in the treatment of mental illnesses. In the future, research can focus on in-depth screening of pharmacy-related material properties, more clinical trials, comprehensive studies on pharmacological mechanisms, and further safety and toxicology research to ensure the safe and effective use of Albizia.
Conflict of Interest
All authors declare no conflict of interest.
References (omitted)
Source: Huang Chenjie, Fan Mingli, Du Xiaona, Shi Xueli. Pharmacological Effects and Mechanisms of Albizia on Mental Illness Research Progress [J]. Drug Evaluation Research, 2024, 47(8): 1929-1936.
