scholarly journals Jianpi Jieyu Decoction, An Empirical Herbal Formula, Exerts Psychotropic Effects in Association With Modulation of Gut Microbial Diversity and GABA Activity

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lanying Liu ◽  
Zhilu Zou ◽  
Jiangwei Yang ◽  
Xiaoqi Li ◽  
Boran Zhu ◽  
...  

Background: Recent studies suggest that gut microbiota was associated with the bidirectional gut-brain axis which could modulate neuropsychological functions of the central nervous system. Gut microbiota could produce gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) that could modulate the gut–brain axis response. Jianpi Jieyu (JPJY) decoction, a traditional Chinese formula, is mainly composed of Astragalus membranaxeus and Radix Pseudostellariae. Although the JPJY decoction has been used to treat the depression in China, the potential action of its antidepressant has not been well understood. Thus this study was aim to investigate the role of JPJY improve gut microbiota homeostasis in the chronic stress induced depressive mice.Methods: The antidepressant effect of JPJY on chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mice was evaluated by using sucrose preference test, tail suspension test and forced swim test. Fatigue-like behaviors were evaluated using degree of redness, grip strength test, and exhaustive swimming test. The new object recognition test was used to evaluate cognition performance. Fecal samples were collected and taxonomical analysis of intestinal microbial distribution was conducted with 16S rDNA. Serum level of GABA was measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The expression of GluR1 and p-Tau protein in the hippocampus was determined using Western blotting.Results: The dose of 9.2 g/kg JPJY produced antidepressant-like effects. JPJY and its major components also modulated gut microbiota diversity in the CUMS mice. Serum level of GABA and the expressions of hippocampal GluR1 and p-Tau were reversed after the administration of JPJY in CUMS mice.Conclusion: JPJY regulates gut microbiota to produce antidepressant-like effect and improve cognition deficit in depressive mice while its molecular mechanism possibly be enhanced NR1 and Tau expression in hippocampus and increased GABA in serum.

Author(s):  
Yeshwant Kurhe ◽  
Radhakrishnan Mahesh ◽  
Deepali Gupta ◽  
Devadoss Thangaraj

AbstractThe inconsistent therapeutic outcome necessitates designing and identifying novel therapeutic interventions for depression. Hence, the present study deals with the investigation of antidepressant-like effects of a novel 5-HTAnimals were subjected to different stressors for a period of 28 days. On day 15 after the subsequent stress procedure, mice were administered with (4a) (2 and 4 mg/kg p.o.), escitalopram (10 mg/kg p.o.), or vehicle (10 mL/kg p.o.) until day 28 along with the CUMS. Thereafter, behavioral battery tests like locomotor score, sucrose preference test, forced swim test (FST), tail suspension test (TST), and elevated plus maze (EPM) were performed. Biochemical assays like lipid peroxidation, nitrite levels, reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were estimated in the mice brain homogenate.(4a) Dose dependently attenuated the behavioral alterations by increasing the sucrose consumption, reducing the immobility time in FST and TST, increasing the open arm number of entries and time in EPM. Furthermore, biochemical alterations were reversed by (4a) as examined by reduced lipid peroxidation and nitrite levels and elevated antioxidant enzyme levels like GSH, catalase and SOD.(4a) exhibits antidepressant potential by reversing the CUMS induced behavioral and biochemical changes in mice.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun-Tao Zhao ◽  
Ling Shen ◽  
Yong-Ping Zhang ◽  
Lulu Zhang ◽  
Leigang Jin ◽  
...  

Abstract Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a key role in the pathogenesis of depression. Ample research proves mitochondria are a promising target for depression. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) exerts roles in neuroprotection and could enhance mitochondria function. Here, the anti-depressive effect of FGF21 was evaluated on a chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)- induced model of depression. The depressive-like behaviors were assessed using sucrose preference test (SPT), forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST). The results showed that treatment of FGF21 significantly attenuated the decrease in SPT, and dramatically reduced the immobility time in the TST and FST. These effects were associated with enhanced hippocampal mitochondrial function, reflected by FGF21-induced increases in mitochondrial ATP concentration, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and decrease of reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. At the same time, FGF21 ameliorated oxidative stress in CUMS-exposed mice by enhancing superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase activities, and reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) level in the hippocampus. Mechanistically, we found that CUMS treatment decreased expression level of mitochondrial fusion protein 1 (MFN1), and increased expression level of mitochondrial dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1). FGF21 administration increased expression of MFN1, and reduced expression of DRP1. Meanwhile, FGF21 treatment promoted the expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1, phosphorylated AMPK, SirT1, PGC-1a in the hippocampus. This study revealed that FGF21 alleviates CUMS induced depressive like behaviors by restoring mitochondria function via enhancing Nrf2/HO-1 and AMPK/SirT1/PGC-1α signaling pathways. It suggested that FGF21 would be a potential therapeutic agent in the management of depression.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (22) ◽  
pp. 2564-2572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuo Yan ◽  
Yi-Bing Chen ◽  
Jia-Rong Wu ◽  
Kuang-Dai Li ◽  
Yuan-Lu Cui

Depression is a common mental disease, and it is one of the most crippling diseases in the world. Although current pharmacotherapies contribute to the treatment of depression, the high incidence of a partial responses or no responses, and delayed onset of the antidepressants, make many patients to experience unsatisfactory results from treatment. In view of the high suicide rate during the period of drug onset, it is critical to find antidepressant drugs with rapid onset for the treatment of depression. This paper mainly reviews some drugs that have rapid antidepressant effect and their mechanisms, including monoaminergic receptor drugs, glutamate receptor drugs, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling agonist, gamma-aminobutyric acid energy (GABAergic) agonist and drug combinations. In addition, we introduce several rodent models currently used to assess antidepressant onset in this review: chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST), olfactory bulbectomy (OBX) and other models, which provide a methodological approach for assessing the rapid onset of antidepressant drugs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Fei Ni ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Qiu-Yan Gu ◽  
Fei-Ying Wang ◽  
Ying-Jie Wang ◽  
...  

Major depressive disorder has become one of the most serious neuropsychiatric disorders worldwide. However, currently available antidepressants used in clinical practice are ineffective for a substantial proportion of patients and always have side effects. Besides being a lipid-regulating agent, gemfibrozil is an agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α). We investigated the antidepressant effects of gemfibrozil on C57BL/6J mice using the forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST), as well as the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model of depression. The changes in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling cascade in the brain after CUMS and gemfibrozil treatment were further assessed. Pharmacological inhibitors and lentivirus-expressed short hairpin RNA (shRNA) were also used to clarify the antidepressant mechanisms of gemfibrozil. Gemfibrozil exhibited significant antidepressant actions in the FST and TST without affecting the locomotor activity of mice. Chronic gemfibrozil administration fully reversed CUMS-induced depressive-like behaviors in the FST, TST and sucrose preference test. Gemfibrozil treatment also restored CUMS-induced inhibition of the hippocampal BDNF signaling pathway. Blocking PPAR-α and BDNF but not the serotonergic system abolished the antidepressant effects of gemfibrozil on mice. Gemfibrozil produced antidepressant effects in mice by promoting the hippocampal BDNF system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiawei Wu ◽  
Tingting Zhang ◽  
Luping Yu ◽  
Shuai Huang ◽  
Yu Yang ◽  
...  

Major depressive disorder is now becoming a common disease in daily life, and most patients do not have satisfactory treatment outcomes. We herein evaluated the therapeutic effects of Zhile capsule and clarified the molecular mechanism. A rat model of chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression was established to assess the antidepressant-like effects of Zhile by using the sucrose preference test, open field test, forced swim test, tail suspension test and HPLC. Systems pharmacology was then performed to unravel the underlying mechanism which was confirmed by western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and qPCR. Zhile alleviated depression-like behaviors by upregulating the cAMP-CREB-BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) axis to exert neuroprotective effects. It may be beneficial to depressive patients in clinical practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Linyu Lu ◽  
Die Wu ◽  
Kai Wang ◽  
Juanjuan Tang ◽  
Gang Chen

Depression is one of the foremost psychological illness, and the exact mechanism is unclear. Recent studies have reported that the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) signaling pathway is involved in the progression of depression. In the present study, we extracted crocin from the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, to evaluate its antidepressant effect and clarify the underlying mechanism. Here, we established a chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mouse model to assess whether crocin can improve depression-like behavior in an open field test (OFT), tail suspension test (TST), forced swimming test (FST), and sucrose preference test (SPT). A corticosterone (CORT) model of PC12 was set up to explore the antidepressant mechanism of crocin. We pretreated PC12 cells with crocin for 1 hour and then stimulated the cells with CORT for 24 hours. Cell survival was detected by Hoechst staining and MTT assay. The expression of PACAP, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element binding protein (CREB), and extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) were analyzed by western blotting. PACAP RNAi was used to interfere with PC12 cells to downregulate the content of PACAP. The results showed that crocin (30 mg/kg) significantly reversed the decrease of body weight and elevation of serum CORT, mitigated CUMS induced depression-like behaviors of mice, and crocin (12.5 μmol/L) protected PC12 cells against CORT (200 μmol/L)-induced injury. Furthermore, crocin greatly increased the protein expression of PACAP and phosphorylation of ERK and CREB in the CORT model. PACAP RNAi cancelled the neuroprotective effect of crocin. In conclusion, these results indicated that crocin exerted an antidepressant effect via upregulating PACAP and its downstream ERK and CREB signaling pathways.


Author(s):  
Jessica MacGregor

gene in humans have been shown to predict non-responsiveness to antidepressant drugs; suggesting that FGF2 is required for antidepressants to work. In this study, we hypothesized that antidepressants will not work in rodents that lack the FGF2 gene. Hence, we tested antidepressant treatment in transgenic mice that had the FGF2 gene knocked out. Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) has been used for several decades to produce a reliable depressive and anxious phenotype in mice. This study followed a CUS paradigm and used fluoxetine (Prozac) as antidepressant treatment. Mice received daily fluoxetine administration beginning on week three of CUS and continued until the end of week five to provide an antidepressant effect and reverse the effects of stress. To test for levels of anxiety and depression, a battery of behavioral tests was conducted which began from the least stressful (i.e. sucrose preference test, open field maze, elevated plus maze) to the most stressful test (forced swim test) to prevent testing carry-over effects. AnyMaze software was used to measure behavior in the open field and elevated plus mazes by recording the amount of time each mouse spent in certain parts of the maze. Future studies will examine brain changes associated with FGF2 gene deletion – particularly in astrocyte cells – which might be necessary for successful antidepressant action. Hopefully, this will elucidate novel therapeutic targets for antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiting Li ◽  
Yuanhui Li ◽  
Xiaofei Zhang ◽  
Guilin Ren ◽  
Liangfeng Wang ◽  
...  

The Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg (CX)–Aucklandia costus Falc. (MX) herbal pair is frequently used in traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions for treating depression. The volatile oil from CX and MX has been shown to have good pharmacological activities on the central nervous system, but its curative effect and mechanism in the treatment of depression are unclear. Therefore, the antidepressant effect of the volatile oil from CX–MX (CMVO) was studied in chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rats. The suppressive effects of CMVO (25, 50, 100 μL/kg) against CUMS-induced depression-like behavior were evaluated using the forced swimming test (FST), open field test (OFT) and sucrose preference test (SPT). The results showed that CMVO exhibited an antidepressant effect, reversed the decreased sugar preference in the SPT and prolongation of immobility time in the FST induced by CUMS, increased the average speed, time to enter the central area, total moving distance, and enhanced the willingness of rats to explore the environment in the OFT. Inhalational administration of CMVO decreased levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone and corticosterone in serum and the expression of corticotropin-releasing hormone mRNA in the hypothalamus, which indicated regulation of over-activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. In addition, CMVO restored levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), dopamine, norepinephrine and acetylcholine in the hippocampus. The RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry results showed that CMVO up-regulated the expression of 5-HT1A mRNA. This study demonstrated the antidepressant effect of CMVO in CUMS rats, which was possibly mediated via modulation of monoamine and cholinergic neurotransmitters and regulation of the HPA axis.


Author(s):  
Chiranjeevi Bonda ◽  
Sudhir Pawar ◽  
Jaisen Lokhande

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the antidepressant effect of opioid analgesic tramadol using forced swim test and tail suspension test models.Methods: The antidepressant effect was assessed by recording the immobility time in Forced swim test (FST) and Tail suspension test (TST). The mice were randomly divided into five groups. Mice belonging to group I was given normal saline (0.1ml/kg) which acted as control. Group II received imipramine (15mg/kg) considered as the standard drug tramadol was given in graded dose (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) to mice of groups III, IV, V respectively. All drugs were administered intraperitoneally for seven successive days; test was done on 7th day.Results: Tramadol and Imipramine showed antidepressant activity when compared to control. There is dose dependent increase in antidepressant activity of tramadol. The antidepressant activity of imipramine was significantly (P<0.05) more than tramadol at dose 10 and 20 mg/kg but antidepressant activity with tramadol 40mg/kg was comparable to imipramine treated mice.Conclusions: The results of this study indicated the presence of antidepressant activity of tramadol at 40mg/kg.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Gupta ◽  
Tay Jia Jia ◽  
Lim Yee Woon ◽  
Dinesh Kumar Chellappan ◽  
Mayuren Candasamy ◽  
...  

The present study was designed to evaluate the acute and chronic antidepressant effect of genistein in combination with amitriptyline in mice. Animals were divided into six groups (n=6) for treatment with water, genistein, or amitriptyline, either alone or in combination for ten days. Animals were subjected to locomotor activity testing; tail suspension test (TST); and forced swim test (FST) and immobility time was recorded on day one and day ten. Acute treatment of all treatment groups did not significantly reduce the immobility time (p>0.05). Chronic treatment of combination of genistein (10 mg/kg) and amitriptyline (5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg) significantly reduced the immobility time as compared to control group (p<0.001) and was comparable to amitriptyline alone (10 mg/kg). However, no changes in anti-immobility activity in combination of subeffective doses of genistein (5 mg/kg) and amitriptyline (5 mg/kg) were observed. Genistein at its standard dose (10 mg/kg) rendered synergistic effects in combination with subeffective dose of amitriptyline (5 mg/kg) and additive effects in combination with therapeutic dose of amitriptyline (10 mg/kg).


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