Celery root extract as an inducer of mania induction in a patient on venlafaxine and St John’s Wort

Celery is a commercially important seed spice belonging to the family Umbelliferrae. Celery is used in various forms such as fresh herb, stalk, seeds, oil, and oleoresin for flavoring of foods and for medicinal purposes. Celery seed contains 2% volatile oil that finds application for flavoring of foods and also in perfumery industry. Limonene and selinene form about 60% and 20% of the oil, respectively. However, the important flavor constituents of the oil responsible for the typical aroma are 3-n-butyl-4-5-dihydrophthalide (sedanenolide), 3-n-butyl phthalide, sedanolide, and sedanonic anhydride present in very low levels (1-3%). Celery contains 15% fatty oil with the fatty acids: petroselenic (64.3%), oleic (8.1%), linoleic (18%), linolenic (0.6%), and palmitic acids. Phthalides especially sedanenaloide possess many health benefits. Celery extracts are reported to possess many nutraceutical properties, viz., antioxidant, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, and anti-platelet aggregation. In the present review, the chemistry, processing, and biological activities of celery and the components responsible are discussed.

Hypericum possesses a unique pharmacology in that it displays the pharmacology of many classes of antidepressants and new mechanisms not typical of standard antidepressants. The most potent of all its action is the moderate to high potency for inhibition of the reuptake of monoamines, serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline and the amino-acid neurotransmitters GABA and glutamate. Unlike standard reuptake inhibitors, hypericum exerts this reuptake inhibition non-competitively by enhancing intracellular Na+ ion concentrations. At a receptor level, chronic treatment with hypericum downregulates beta1-adrenoceptor, upregulates post-synaptic 5-HT1A receptors and 5-HT2 receptors. Although the major constituent responsible for the antidepressant effect is thought to be hyperforin, other constituents such as hypericin, pseudohypericin, flavonoids and oligomeric procyanidines may also play a direct or indirect role. While reuptake inhibition may more than likely be responsible for most of the antidepressant effect, other mechanisms may also contribute alone or in combination to exert the overall antidepressant action.