Inclination toward herbal remedies as immunity boosters and anti-stress agents during COVID-19 pandemic: A short report

摘要

COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health disaster and an inducer of physiological stress and fear. Population in every society all over the globe is severely affected directly or indirectly by this pandemic that has created huge stress that will persist in memories for long. [1,2] As we know that the stress is a leading psychopathological cause responsible for the onset of several neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc., and it has now been speculated that nearly two- thirds of the clinical ailments are either induced or exacerbated by physiological stress. [3,4] It is now well established that the physiological and psychological responses to stress are mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, sympathoadrenergic and brain monoaminergic systems, [5,6] and most importantly an altered function of HPA-axis was recently reported in patients with COVID-19, [7,8] this is somewhat indicating that stress might be involved in the progression of this ongoing pandemic. It has now been well established that the dysfunctionalities of central neurotransmitters such as noradrenaline, dopamine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine are involved in the onset or progression of several stress-mediated neurodegenerative disorders. [9,10] Similarly, dysfunctionalities of these neurotransmitters in COVID-19 patients have also been recently reported, [7,11,12] indicating that stress may play a role in the progression of this pandemic. Moreover, it is also reported that the dysfunctions of neurotransmitters due to prolonged stressful conditions have also been associated with wide range of central and/or peripheral disorders such as depression, anxiety, drug abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating and sleeping disorders, hyperglycemia, and decreased immune response, [13,14] these symptomatic neurological problems have also been reported in thousands of COVID-19 patients. [15-17] In view of these, it is somewhat clear that physiological stress and COVID-19 have some associated with each other but further investigations at molecular levels are recommended.