Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1411168
This article is part of the Research Topic Natural Products in Medicine: Insights from History and Ethnopharmacology View all 10 articles

Flavonoids against depression: a comprehensive review of literature

Provisionally accepted
Mahdyieh Naziri Mahdyieh Naziri 1*Alaleh Alizadeh Alaleh Alizadeh 2Yeganeh Pourfallah-Taft Yeganeh Pourfallah-Taft 3Maryam Khoshnazar Maryam Khoshnazar 4Aysan Safdari Aysan Safdari 5Saba V. Komari Saba V. Komari 5Mehrnaz Zanganeh Mehrnaz Zanganeh 2Nafiseh Sami Nafiseh Sami 6Maryam Valizadeh Maryam Valizadeh 7Arezoo Faridzadeh Arezoo Faridzadeh 7Dorsa Alijanzadeh Dorsa Alijanzadeh 3Amirhossein Mazhari Amirhossein Mazhari 8Reza Khademi Reza Khademi 7Ali Kheirandish Ali Kheirandish 1
  • 1 Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • 2 Islamic Azad University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
  • 3 Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  • 4 Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran
  • 5 Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
  • 6 Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  • 7 Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, Iran
  • 8 Azerbaijan Medical University, Baku, Azerbaijan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity, which affects a person's thoughts, behavior, motivation, feelings, and sense of well-being. Pharmacologic therapies are still the best effective treatment of depression. Still, most antidepressant drugs have low efficacy and delayed onset of therapeutic action, have different side effects, and even exacerbate depression. Such conditions make it possible to look for alternatives. Consequently, we decided to summarize the impact of flavonoids on depression in this review.We searched scientific databases such as SCOPUS, PubMed, and Google Scholar to find relevant studies until July 2022.Results: A wide variety of natural components have been shown to alleviate depression, one of which is flavonoids. Due to the growing tendency to use natural antidepressant drugs, scientific studies are increasingly being conducted on flavonoids. This study aims to review the latest scientific researches that indicate the antidepressant potential of flavonoids. Various mechanisms include neurotransmitter system modulation and dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic pathways regulation in the central nervous system. Different compounds of flavonoids have antidepressant properties in vivo or in vitro experiments or clinical trials and can be used as alternative and complementary treatments for depression. In general, it was observed that there were no severe side effects.Our study proves the antidepressant potential of flavonoids, and considering the limited side effects, they can be used as complementary medicine for depressed patients.

    Keywords: Tehran Hemat Highway next to Milad Tower14535 ،, Iran antidepressant, Flavonoids, Natural Products, herbal medicine, complementary medicineIntroduction, Depression

    Received: 02 Apr 2024; Accepted: 20 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Naziri, Alizadeh, Pourfallah-Taft, Khoshnazar, Safdari, Komari, Zanganeh, Sami, Valizadeh, Faridzadeh, Alijanzadeh, Mazhari, Khademi and Kheirandish. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mahdyieh Naziri, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.