Among the various species of medicinal plants, we can find the Spilanthes acmella species,
popularly known as Jambu that stands out due to its numerous applications in the folk
medicine field. Traditional medicine recommends the use of its leaves and flowers in the
preparation of infusions to treat anemia, dyspepsia, malaria, mouth diseases (tooth pain) and
throat diseases, against scurvy and also as antibiotic and anesthetic, being its main effects
attributed to espilantol, which is an important representative of the substances present in these
plants. Some studies have been performed using the espilantol, providing some information of
the effect of this substance, as its immunomodulatory effect and because of its functional
interaction with monocytes, granulocytes and killer cells. However, there are still no
electrophysiological studies about its ictiotoxic action using, for example, the EEG to
demonstrate its action at the central nervous system level or electromyogram to verify the
occurrence of their effects in the Zebrafish muscles, evoking the need for this research. Based
on this, the present study aimed to investigate the ictiotoxic action of the ethanol extract of the
Spilanthes acmella root in Zebrafish by electrophysiological and behavioral analysis. The
results showed that the ethanol extract of Spilanthes acmella is a potent inducer of central
excitability in zebrafish, this being evidenced by changes in electrical activity patterns seen in
the EEG of the animals subjected to the extract and by increasing brain activity seen in the
spectrogram. The extract also caused changes, in a lesser extent, on the electromyographic
tracings of zebrafish subjected to the same concentration of the extract, with the appearance of
scattered muscle contractions and brief myoclonus. And the behavioral findings from the
delimitation of three stages of behavior, which began with the increased excitability of the
animal and resulted in the seizure and death of the fish, served to corroborate the
electrophysiological findings that the ethanol extract of Spilanthesacmella acts as a potent
substance acting on the nervous system of zebrafish, with convulsant activity.
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