Deacetyl xylopic acid exhibits synergistic antidepressant-like effects and augments fluoxetine activity in a chronic restraint-induced depression model in mice
Charles Kwaku Benneh, Wonder Kofi Mensah Abotsi, Aliu Moomin, Robert Peter Biney, Japhat Opoku Ofosu, Mustapha Kobina Abeka, Augustine Tandoh, Donatus Wewura Adongo, Eric Woode · 2026
Read Deacetyl xylopic acid exhibits synergistic antidepressant-like effects and augments fluoxetine activity in a chronic restraint-induced depression model in mice by Charles Kwaku Benneh, Wonder Kofi Mensah Abotsi, Aliu Moomin, Robert Peter Biney, Japhat Opoku Ofosu, Mustapha Kobina Abeka, Augustine Tandoh, Donatus Wewura Adongo, Eric Woode (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13503425.txt.
Description
Benneh and colleagues test a plant compound, deacetyl xylopic acid from the African spice fruit Xylopia aethiopica, as a helper for antidepressant drugs. Earlier work showed the compound family lifts mood-like behaviour in acutely stressed mice. Their 2026 study combined it with fluoxetine and other antidepressants in mouse despair tests. It then moved to a model where mice were restrained six hours daily for six weeks to produce chronic depression-like behaviour.
In the acute tests the combinations were synergistic: the mixture achieved the benchmark effect at doses below what simple addition predicted, across all four partner drugs on the interaction analysis. The chronic model proved tougher, since three days of the plant compounds alone did not reverse behaviour, while fluoxetine alone did, and a combined dose also worked. The authors read this as a fast-acting amplifier role for the compound.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Charles Kwaku Benneh, Wonder Kofi Mensah Abotsi, Aliu Moomin, Robert Peter Biney, Japhat Opoku Ofosu, Mustapha Kobina Abeka, Augustine Tandoh, Donatus Wewura Adongo, Eric Woode |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 42 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |