Serotonergic mechanisms are involved in antidepressant-like effects of bisbenzylisoquinolines liensinine and its analogs isolated from the embryo of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertner seeds in mice.

Objectives: We attempted to ascertain if bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids, liensinine and isoliensinine from Nelumbo nucifera Gaertner have antidepressant-like effects and compare the effects with those previously obtained by their analogue neferine.

Methods: Using mice, the forced swimming test (FST) was carried out after treatment with liensinine, isoliensinine and neferine.

Key Findings: Liensinine and isoliensinine elicited antidepressant-like effects in mice after the FST.

Antidepressant-like effects of neferine in the forced swimming test involve the serotonin1A (5-HT1A) receptor in mice.

The effects of neferine, an alkaloid of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertner embryos, on immobility in the forced swimming test, which is used to evaluate antidepressants, were investigated in mice. The administration of neferine from 25 to 100 mg/kg i.p.

Effects of extracts and neferine from the embryo of Nelumbo nucifera seeds on the central nervous system.

The effects of embryos of the seeds of Nelumbo nucifera on the central nervous system were studied in mice. MeOH extracts of embryos of Nelumbo nucifera seeds significantly inhibited locomotor activity in mice. The MeOH extract was successively partitioned between H(2)O and n-hexane, between H(2)O and CHCl(3), and between H(2)O and n-BuOH.