(Bentham Science Publishers) Antidepressants have become one of the most commonly prescribed drugs. With the technical advances in analytical instruments, metabolomics is entering into a 'next generation' phase. Dr. Li and colleagues from the University of California, San Diego, USA have summarized the analytical platforms of next-generation metabolomics (NGM) and its main applications in antidepressant R&D. In particular, they demonstrate the low toxicity and multi-targets of albiflorin using NGM, which might facilitate this botanical medicine to be a new class of antidepressant.