Melissa Officinalis: A Review on the Antioxidant, Anxiolytic, and Anti-depressant Activity

Lipoksenla¹, Viswedenu Kera¹, Sunit Nath¹, Avolu Kotso¹, Vekutolu Resuh¹, Abhijit Dutta² and Wankupar Wankhar^3*

¹Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Paramedical Science, Assam Downtown University, Panikhaiti, Guwahati, Assam, India.

²Faculty of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Assam Downtown University, Panikhaiti, Guwahati, Assam, India.

³Faculty of Paramedical Science, Assam Downtown University, Panikhaiti, Guwahati, Assam, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: wankuparwankhar@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Anxiety and depression are among the most prevalent neuropsychiatric disorders globally and significantly contribute to the healthcare burden. Various factors, like stressful events, family history, substance abuse, health issues, hormonal imbalances, inflammation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediated oxidative stress. Although numerous medications are available, their efficacy may diminish over time or vary among individuals. Phytomedicine offers a promising approach, focusing on herbal remedies with multiple therapeutic modalities. Melissa Officinalis (MO), a member of the Lamiaceae family, contains flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, and phenolic acids. Essential oils from MO have shown potential in alleviating anxiety, enhancing mood, inducing relaxation, serving as an antidote, acting as an antidepressant, aiding sleep, boosting memory, and improving headaches and insomnia. However, the precise mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effects remain unclear. According to our literature, Melissa Officinalis and its active constituents exert their effects through (i) Antioxidant activity to prevent free radical-mediated neuronal damage. (ii) Blocking GABA-Transminase (GABA-T) activity to increase inhibitory GABA concentrations (iii) Inhibit serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake to increase serotonergic and noradrenergic transmission (iv) mild inhibition of Monoamine oxidase A MAO-A to prevent the deamination of amines. To promote the use complementary and alternative medicine by targeting multiple therapeutic modalities are reviewed in this study.

KEYWORDS: Anxiety; Antioxidant; Depression; GABA; Melissa officinalis; Rosmarinic Acid

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