Souroubea sympetala (Marcgraviaceae): a medicinal plant that exerts anxiolysis through interaction with the GABAA benzodiazepine receptor.

The mode of action of the anxiolytic medicinal plant Souroubea sympetala was investigated to test the hypothesis that extracts and the active principle act at the pharmacologically important GABAA-benzodiazepine (GABAA-BZD) receptor. Leaf extracts prepared by ethyl acetate extraction or supercritical extraction, previously determined to have 5.54 mg/g and 6.

Anxiolytic activity of a supercritical carbon dioxide extract of Souroubea sympetala (Marcgraviaceae).

The purpose of this work was to develop an extraction technique to yield a betulinic acid-(BA) enriched extract of the traditional anti-anxiety plant Souroubea sympetala Gilg (Marcgraviaceae). Five extraction techniques were compared: supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SCE), conventional solvent extraction with ethyl acetate (EtOAc), accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) and soxhlet extraction (Sox). The EtOAc and SCE extraction methods resulted in BA-enriched extracts, with BA concentrations of 6.