Neuropharmacological and molecular docking studies of xanthones from Swertia corymbosa

Anxiety represents a public health problem consistently found to be the most prevalent class of mental disorders among people of all ages. Xanthones possess many biological properties, including neuroprotective, antioxidant or antidepressant-like. In this study, we aimed to investigate anxiolytic-like antidepressant and anticonvulsant properties of isolated xanthones from Swertia corymbosa. We evaluated anxiolytic-like activity of compounds 1–3 in the mouse elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field test (OF). We examined the influence on locomotor activity in mouse to determine if the effect observed in the actophotometer specific. We used step-through rotarod tests to evaluate the motor function and muscle grip. Compounds 1–3 significantly induced an increase in the number of entries into open arms and a decrease in time spent into closed arms at the dose of 50 mg/kg body weight (BW). The compounds also induced increase of rearing and decrease grooming at the doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg BW during the OF test. In addition, compounds induced a significant increase of time taken to enter at the center of the experimental set at the dose of 50 mg/kg BW during the open field test. The compounds 1–3 significantly delayed the onset as well as decreased the pentylenetetrazole and isoniazid-induced seizure tests. Compound 3 pretreatment significantly improved survivals in pentylenetetrazole and isoniazid-induced seizure tests. In silico studies reveal its possible mechanism of action shed on light to develop novel drugs against CNS disorders.