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Vervain (Verbena officinalis) and Insomnia / sleeplessness: evidence and sources
inferred from sedative action
For educational purposes only, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified practitioner before using medicinal plants, especially alongside prescribed medication, during pregnancy, or for a serious condition.
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We describe different neuropharmacological effects of Verbena officinalis crude extract (Vo.Cr). Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures, elevated plus maze, light-dark box (LDB), open field and thiopental-induced sleeping test models were employed to evaluate Vo.Cr actions in mice. Vo.Cr dose-dependently (100-500 mg/Kg) delayed onset time of myoclonic jerks and tonic-clonic seizures, while decreased duration of tonic-clonic seizures ( P P P P P P P P P P Verbena officinalis possess anticonvulsant, anxiolytic and sedative activities, which provides scientific background for its medicinal application in various neurological ailments, such as epilepsy, anxiety, and insomnia.
Verbena officinalis (common vervain) is a medicinal plant species widely distributed in the world and commonly used in folk medicine of different countries, including traditional Chinese medicine. Monographs on " Verbenae herba" have been included in the European Pharmacopoeia since 2008, and in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia since 1995. This work presents botanical characteristics of this species. It reviews the current knowledge of its chemical composition, which is a rich source mostly of iridoids, phenylpropanoid glycosides, phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, and essential oil. A large part of this article summarizes traditional medicinal uses and professional pharmacological in vitro and in vivo studies that prove new important applications, e.g., antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective anticancer, analgesic, or anticonvulsant of verbena herb extracts and individual metabolites. Moreover, emphasis is put on the use of V. officinalis in the food and cosmetics industries, especially due to its antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, and the presence of essential oil with an attractive fragrance composition. This paper also presents the state of biotechnological studies of this species.
2 sources supporting Vervain for Insomnia / sleeplessness. Includes scientific publications, books, monographs and traditional-use references.
Mechanistic basis
This use is associated with the plant's sedative / sleep support action. Further evidence for that pharmacology:
Verbena officinalis Linn. is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, which has a long history of application and shows good effects on neuroprotection. Therefore, we consider that V. officinalis may be a potential drug for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD). First, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) pointed out that the main chemical components in V. officinalis were iridoid glycosides, phenylethanoid glycosides, and flavonoids. These compounds were used for molecular docking and the results showed that these compounds had good anti-AD activity. To explore the biosynthetic pathway of anti-AD components in V. officinalis , UPLC and ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry were used for contents determination and the result was leaf > stem > root. At the same time, 92,867 unigenes were annotated in V. officinalis transcriptome; 206, 229, 115 related unigenes were, respectively, annotated in iridoid glycoside, phenylethanoid glycoside, and flavonoid pathway, of which 61, 73, and 35 were differential expression genes. The components had relatively high expression in leaves, which was consistent with the quantitative results. In addition, the tissue distribution particularity of verbenalin may be related to the branching of pathways. Meanwhile transcription factors VoWRKY6 and VoWRKY7 may be involved in the regulation of iridoid glycoside biosynthesis. Further, VoWRKY3, VoWRKY9, and VoWRKY12 may be related to flavonoid biosynthesis. The above research is helpful to explore the biosynthetic pathway of anti-AD components and the regulation mechanism of active components and to further explore the anti-AD effect of V. officinalis .