{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T19:34:38Z","timestamp":1792697678238,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"21","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,22]],"date-time":"2025-10-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761091200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Science Center, Poland","award":["2017\/25\/N\/NZ7\/01899"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017\/25\/N\/NZ7\/01899"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>For thousands of years, medicinal plants and their constituents have been used, mostly empirically\/ethnopharmacologically, to cure patients with central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Anxiolytics derived from natural products (NPs) often share similar mechanisms of action to synthetic ones (e.g., benzodiazepines, BDZs). Although typically as effective as synthetic anxiolytics, NPs are considered to be devoid of the serious side effects linked to the use of BDZs. 8-Methoxypeucedanin (8-MP) is a rare furanocoumarin present in the fruits of Peucedanum luxurians Tamamsch. (Apiaceae). The primary objective of the presented study was to assess the anxiolytic activity of 8-MP using a zebrafish (Danio rerio) model of anxiety. Danio rerio larvae at 5 days post-fertilization (dpf) were used, with reversed thigmotaxis considered as an index of the anxiolytic activity. In addition to the behavioral study, qPCR analyses were performed to assess the role of 8-MP in modulating the expression of c-fos and bdnf, two key genes involved in neural activity. As evidenced by the behavioral study, 8-MP (1.5\u201315 \u00b5M) exhibited a significant influence on anxiety, with a U-shape dose\u2013response effect. Moreover, the expression of c-fos and bdnf genes was significantly downregulated, providing novel insights into the mechanisms of action of the tested furanocoumarin.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms262110259","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]],"date-time":"2025-10-23T01:14:02Z","timestamp":1761182042000},"page":"10259","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["8-Methoxypeucedanin: Evaluation of Anxiolytic Effects and Modulation of Neuronal Activity Related Genes in a Zebrafish Anxiety Mode"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3154-9138","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jaros\u0142aw","family":"Widelski","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacognosy with Medicinal Plant Unit, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monika","family":"Maci\u0105g","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Laboratory of Behavioral Studies, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0242-2587","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Natalia","family":"Kasica","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Barbara","family":"Budzy\u0144ska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Laboratory of Behavioral Studies, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Piotr","family":"Podlasz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathophysiology, Forensic Veterinary Medicine and Administration, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simon Vlad","family":"Luca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique, Universit\u00e9 d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, CNRS, UMR 7311, BP6759, 45067 Orl\u00e9ans, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dafina","family":"Fondai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Prishtina, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9313-5929","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Krystyna","family":"Skalicka-Wo\u017aniak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry of Natural Products, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.22159\/ajpcr.2016.v9s3.11820","article-title":"A review on the neural circuits in anxiety disorders","volume":"9","author":"Arya","year":"2016","journal-title":"Asian J. 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