Journal of Nutritional Disorders & Therapy

St.John Wort: An anti-depressive herb

26^th International Conference on Clinical Nutrition

March 08, 2021 | WEBINAR

Mayuri Rastogi

Sharda University, India

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nutr Disorders Ther

Abstract:

St. John Wort also known as Hypericum Perforatum is best known for the treatment of mild to moderate depression .The plant with yellow coloured flower grows in Europe, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Eastern Asia. Commercial formulation is prepared by soaking the dried chopped flowers in methanol to create a hyper alcoholic extract that is then dried. The extract of St. John Wort contain hypericin and hyperformin fractions which acts by inhibiting reuptake of serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE) in the synaptic cleft, binding to the GABA-A and GABA-B receptors thereby inhibiting the binding of GABA ligands, increasing the density of serotonin receptors (5-HT2) in the frontal cortex of the brain, and inhibition of both monamine oxidase (MAO) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) enzymes in the brain thereby allowing more dopamine to be converted to norepinephrine. This summery reflects the brief review on anti depressive action of St. John Wort herb.