In Vivo Gastroprotective and Antidepressant Effects of Iridoids, Verbascoside and Tenuifloroside from Benth.

Stress is an important factor in the etiology of some illnesses such as gastric ulcers and depression. Benth. (Orobanchaceae) is used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and nervous disorders. Previous studies indicated that organic extracts from had gastroprotective effects and antidepressant activity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the gastroprotective and antidepressant activity of fractions and isolated compounds from the methanolic extract (MECt) of in stressed mice. Chromatographic fractionation of MECt produced four fractions (FCt-1, FCt-2, CFt-3, and FCt-4) as well as four bioactive compounds which were identified using TLC, HPLC and NMR analyses. The cold restraint stress (CRS)-induced gastric ulcer model followed by the tail suspension test and the forced swim test were used to evaluate the gastroprotective effect and antidepressant activity of the extract fractions. FCt-2 and FCt-3 at 100 mg/kg had significant gastroprotective and antidepressant effects. All isolated compounds (verbascoside, teniufloroside and mixture geniposide/ musseanoside) displayed gastroprotective effects and antidepressant activity at 1 or 2 mg/kg. The above results allow us to conclude that these polyphenols and iridoids from are responsible for the gastroprotective and antidepressant effects.