Medicinal plants with reported anxiolytic and sedative activities in Nigeria: A systematic review

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been widely used in folklore medicine in the treatment of various diseases such as mental and neurological disorders. Mental disorders like anxiety and depression are very common among Nigerian populace. The purpose of this review was to access and evaluate several articles published on the anxiolytic and sedative properties of medicinal plants in Nigeria and to find out the gaps left for further research and drug development. Eighty-two publications available among Nigerian Universities and Research Institutes between 2008 and 2018 were selected. Seven electronic databases such as Nigerian Plant Database, HerbMed, AGRICOLA, MedlinePlus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Springer-Link were thoroughly explored from which 226 relevant articles were obtained using Google Scholar, Hotbot and FreeFullPdf as search engines. A number of studies conducted to test for the anxiolytic and sedative activity of medicinal plants in Nigeria were included. Articles published between 2008 and 2018 were selected. The studies were conducted in Nigeria. Research carried out before 2008 was not selected. All publications with authorship outside Nigeria were excluded. Several medicinal plants on which experiments were conducted were reported to have anxiolytic and or sedative properties in Nigeria. Several medicinal plants have shown promise as anxiolytic and sedative agents in laboratory animals’ studies. The majority of these plants were used traditionally in the past to treat anxiety in Nigeria. Further research on the efficacy and safety of these medicinal plants could yield a more cost effective and perhaps safer alternative in the treatment of anxiety among Nigerians.