Potential of St. John's wort as antistress medication

Background An increasing number of reports indicate that free radicals are involved in the biochemical mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders in humans [1]. The results of several reports suggest that there is a therapeutic benefit from antioxidant supplementation in unstable manic-depressive patients. It has been shown that antidepressants like St. John's wort extract (SJW), but also fluoxetine significantly increased markers of anti-oxidative capacity, e.g. superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in brain homogenates as well as erythrocyte lysates in unstressed mice [2]. Method…