Anti-asthmatic and anxiolytic effects of Herissantia tiubae, a Brazilian medicinal plant

<i>Herissantia tiubae</i> (HtE) is a Brazilian plant used in folk medicine to treat inflammatory diseases. Our aim was to determine whether the HtE has antiinflammatory and anxiolytic effects in a murine model of asthma. Ovalbumin(OVA)-sensitized BALB/c mice were treated with HtE (50, 100, or 200mg/kg) or dexamethasone before each OVA challenge. After the last challenge, animals were subjected to anxiety tests and respiratory measurements. Following euthanasia, we quantified immune cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), serum IgE titer and cytokine levels, cellular infiltration and mucus content in the lung tissues, and cellular composition of the mediastinal lymph nodes. OVA challenge in sensitized animals caused: (1) reduction of mean respiratory and dominant respiratory rate (from 398±12 to 286±20 cicles per minute (cpm) and from 320±14 to 162±15 cpm, respectively); (2) increase in behavioral markers of anxiety tests; (3) substantial pro-inflammatory effects, including rise in OVA-specific IgE titer (from 0 to 1:2048) and these inflammatory effect diminished the titer to 1:512 after HtE treatment; rise in plasma IL-13 (from 13 ng/mL in saline to 227 ng/mL in OVA and HtE treatment restored to 1.29 ng/mL; rise in total BAL cell count (from 0.742 cells/ mL in saline to 11.77 cells/mL in OVA), with prominent eosinophilia. <i>H. tiubae</i> extract affected respiratory parameters similarly to aminophylline, behavioral changes comparable to diazepam, and inflammation being as efficient as dexamethasone. <i>H. tiubae</i> extract (HtE) possesses both anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic properties in the murine model of asthma