RESUMEN
Background: Depression is a serious, debilitating and common illness among various social groups
Chemical and synthetic drugs available for the disease have numerous side effects and result only around a 50% full recovery
Objectives: Today, researchers are trying to find new and affordable drugs without serious side effects. Medicinal plants showed considerable pharmacological effects in the treatment of depression in different experimental models
Methods: In this study, articles from journals indexed in the Scopus, PubMed, Information Sciences Institute [ISI], and Scientific Information Database [SID] were reviewed
Results: A review of studies in this field showed that most medicinal plants show anti-depressant effects through regulating of the synaptic serotonin and dopamine, regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, strengthening of the body's antioxidant defenses and reducing of the inflammatory mediators
Conclusion: medicinal plant and their component show protective effect against depression through different mechanism. Medicinal plants can be used as a new source for the development of anti-depressant drugs