Cissampelos sympodialis and Warifteine Suppress Anxiety-Like Symptoms and Allergic Airway Inflammation in Acute Murine Asthma Model

• Published in: Revista brasileira de farmacognosia Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 224 - 232
• Main Authors: Bezerra-Santos, Claudio R., Bondarenko, Evgeny, Essilfie, Ama T., Nair, Prema M., Horvat, Jay C., Barbosa-Filho, Jose M., Piuvezam, Marcia R., Nalivaiko, Eugene, Hansbro, Phil M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-04-2020
• Subjects: Medicine; Original Article; Pharmacy; Acute airway disease; Psychological disorder; Plant extract; Alkaloid; Respiratory rate
• ISSN: 1981-528X; 1981-528X
• DOI: 10.1007/s43450-020-00026-4

Cissampelos sympodialis
Eichler, Menispermaceae, is a native Brazilian plant used in folk medicine to treat asthma and has central nervous system effects. Anxiety is a prevalent comorbidity of asthma raising the potential for the development of monotherapy for both diseases. We evaluated the effectiveness of the alcoholic fraction of leaves of
C. sympodialis
and its isolated alkaloid warifteine in treating anxiety- and asthma-like symptoms in mice with ovalbumin-induced allergic airway disease. Ovalbumin-sensitized BALB/c mice were treated with the plant extract or alkaloid orally, or with diazepam or dexamethasone controls, before ovalbumin challenge. Plant extract and warifteine treatments ameliorated anxiety-like symptoms and improved respiratory rate similar to diazepam in conscious allergic mice but did not ameliorate airway hyper-responsiveness. Plant extract and warifteine also reduced leukocyte migration into the airways and Th2 cytokine levels in bronchoalveolar lavage and lung tissue similar to dexamethasone. Our data indicate that
C. sympodialis
and its isolated alkaloid warifteine represent potential monotherapies to treat anxiety and asthma symptoms.
Graphical Abstract