Author(s): Mahin Ghorbani

Abstract: The use of medicinal plants for treatment of Type II diabetes, hypertension and anxiety is very common among non-industrialized colonies because these remedies are easily available and low cost than novel pharmaceuticals. Medicinal plants are important sources of new drug candidates. Preclinical assessments of drug toxicity and efficacy rely largely on mice as the animal model of choice, but zebrafish is increasingly used for early preclinical stages in the research pipeline due to number of compelling inherent advantages including: rapid organogenesis, high fecundity, optical translucency, year-round breeding, and availability of genetic tools. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on a panel of selected Iranian medicinal plant extracts. I focus on a selection of medicinal plants traditionally used in Iran to treat type II diabetes (13species), hypertension (12species) and anxiety (12 species). Next, I review the literature for evidence of active part of these plants. At the end, I will discuss the zebrafish assays that will be used for screening these plants for anti-diabetic, antihypertensive and anxiolytic effects. I hope that this communication will be a useful starting point to consider the value of ethnobotanical drug discovery approaches combined with the zebrafish embryo alternative screening assays in future studies.