Pregnancy outcomes in psychiatric patients treated with passiflora incarnata.

Passiflora incarnata is marketed in many countries as anxiolytic herbal supplement. Herbal medicines are natural products, but it doesn't mean they are always safe, especially during pregnancy. Passiflora incarnata extract was not teratogenic in experimental studies. However, there are no data available on possible effects on human pregnancy. Here we report five pregnant women with depression and/or anxiety who used passiflora incarnata in pregnancy. We observed one pregnancy resulting in neonatal death, two pregnancies with premature rupture of membranes, two infants with meconium aspiration syndrome and one infant with persistent pulmonary hypertension. No birth defects and no growth or developmental abnormalities for the live born infants were reported at 6 months of age. This observation is important since there have been no human reports about the use of passiflora incarnata in pregnant women. Pregnant women exposed to passiflora incarnata should be monitored, unless further data are available.

Abnormal white matter integrity in synthetic cannabinoid users.

Synthetic cannabinoids have become increasingly popular in the last few years especially among adolescents and young adults. However, no previous studies have assessed the effects of synthetic cannabinoids on the structure of the human brain. Understanding the harms of synthetic cannabinoid use on brain structure is therefore crucial given its increasing use. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed in 22 patients who used synthetic cannabinoids more than five times a week for at least 1 year and 18 healthy controls. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was significantly reduced in the cannabinoid group compared to controls in a cluster of white matter voxels spanning the left temporal lobe, subcortical structures and brainstem. This cluster was predominantly traversed by the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, fornix, cingulum-hippocampus and corticospinal tracts. Long-term use of synthetic cannabinoids is associated with white matter abnormalities in adolescents and young adults. Disturbed brain connectivity in synthetic cannabinoid users may underlie cognitive impairment and vulnerability to psychosis.