Psychoactive plants treatment

Figure 2. African traditional plant treatments with potential psychoactive properties based on their traditional uses reported in Neuwinger (41).

Other plants known to contain psychoactive compounds include hellebore, which was used for centuries in Europe to treat mania, violent temper, mental retardation and epilepsy. However, a drug of major importance in modern psychopharmacology arose from the discovery by medicinal chemists of the alkaloids of Rauwolfia serpentina, a root which had been used in the Indian subcontinent for centuries, not only for the treatment of snake bite but also for alleviating "insanity". Understandably, the mechanism of action of reserpine, the alkaloid purified from Rauwolfia serpentina, helped to lay the basis to psychopharmacology by demonstrating how the depletion of central and peripheral stores of biogenic amines was correlated with a reduction in blood pressure and tranquillization. 

Marijuana consists of the leaves and flowering parts of the plant Cannabis sativa and is usually smoked in cigarettes ( joints or reefers ) or pipes or added to food (usually cookies or brownies). Resin from the plant may be dried and compressed into blocks called hashish. Marijuana contains a number of cannabinoids the primary psychoactive one is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is also available in capsule form (dronabinol or Marinol) as an appetite stimulant, used primarily for AIDS-related anorexia, and as treatment for vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy. 

CA has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine for psychoactive purposes to control anxiety and help in relaxation and mental calmness. Various studies and evaluations by human and animal models have confirmed the potential claim of CA and its triterpenoid centellosides in anxiolytic activity. In animal studies, the methanolic and ethyl acetate extract of CA as well as the AS of the plant have been reported to possess anxiolytic activity in rat behavioral models [51], In elevated plus maze study, CA methanol extract (3,047 mg kg of body weight) and AS (3 and 5 mg kg ) significantly reduced the number of closed arm entries and increased the time spent in protected head dips, whereas both CA ethyl acetate extract (111 mg kg ) and AS (3 and 5 mg kg ) significantly increased the number of protected head dips and the time spent for this activity. For the open-field test, AS (3-10 mg kg ) significantly increased the rat spent time (41.3 s) at the center of the arena, while the social interaction test treatment with 1 and 3 mg kg of AS significantly reduced the number of non-interaction activity by 29.8 s and 35.0 s, respectively. 

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