TY - JOUR T1 - Chrysin, but not the flavone backbone, decreases anxiety-like behavior in animal tests JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/575514 SP - 575514 AU - León Jesús German-Ponciano AU - Bruna Patrícia Dutra Costa AU - Leonardo Miranda Feitosa AU - Kimberly dos Santos Campos AU - Suianny Nayara da Silva Chaves AU - Jonathan Cueto-Escobedo AU - Monica Gomes Lima-Maximino AU - Juan Francisco Rodríguez-Landa AU - Caio Maximino Y1 - 2019/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/03/12/575514.abstract N2 - Chrysin (5,7-dihydroxyflavone), a flavonoid present in diverse plants, has a backbone structure shared with the basic structure of the flavones, with additional hydroxyl groups that confers its antioxidant properties. Moreover, chrysin is also an aromatase inhibitor, as well as a ligand at the benzodiazepine site; these properties suggest an anxiolytic potential, which has been shown in rodent biobehavioral assays. However, whether these effects are due to the hydroxyl groups is unknown. Here we report the effects of chrysin (1 mg/kg) and the flavone basic structure (1 mg/kg) on rat behavior in the elevated plus-maze and a locomotor activity test (arena), as well as in the zebrafish light/dark test. Chrysin, but not flavone, increased entries and time in the open arms of the elevated plus-maze, as well as time on white in the zebrafish light/dark test. These effects were comparable to diazepam, and were devoid of motor effects in both tests, as well as in the rat locomotor activity test. On the other hand, the flavone backbone increased risk assessment in the zebrafish light/dark test but decreased rearing in the rat arena, suggesting effects threat information gathering; important species differences suggest new avenues of research. It is suggested that the specific effects of chrysin in relation to the flavone backbone are due to its free radical scavenging abilities and/or its higher affinity for the benzodiazepine site. ER -