Antidepressant effects of dammarane sapogenins in chronic unpredictable mild stress‐induced depressive mice

Abstract

Depression is a common, dysthymic, and psychiatric disorder, resulting in enormous social and economic burden. Dammarane sapogenins (DS), an active fraction from oriental ginseng, has shown antidepressant-like effects in chronic restraint rats and sleep interruption-induced mice, and the present study aimed to further confirm the antidepressant effects of DS in a model of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) and to explore the underlying mechanism. Oral administration of DS (20, 40, and 80 mg/kg) markedly improved depressant-like behaviors, increasing the sucrose intake in the sucrose preference test and reducing the latency in the novelty-suppressed feeding test, and decreasing the immobility time in both the tail suspension and forced swimming tests, compared with the CUMS mice. Biochemical analysis of brain tissue and serum showed that DS treatment restored the decreased hippocampal neurotransmitter concentrations of serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and gamma-aminobutyric acid, and decreased the elevated of serum hormone levels (corticotrophin releasing factor, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, and corticosterone) induced by CUMS. Our findings confirm that DS exerts an antidepressant-like effect in the CUMS model of depression in mice, and suggest it may be mediated by regulation of neurotransmitters and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

Curcumin Attenuates Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress-Induced Depressive-Like Behaviors via Restoring Changes in Oxidative Stress and the Activation of Nrf2 Signaling Pathway in Rats

“…In the present study, the corticosterone serum level was significantly increased in rats exposed to CUMS model compared to the nonstressed group, and chronic administration of CUR successfully reversed CUMS-induced the elevation of the corticosterone serum level. The results that serum corticosterone in the rats of the CUMS group increased significantly were in accordance with previous studies [ 2 , 47 ]. As a typical antidepressant agent, fluoxetine could effectively prevent the elevation of serum corticosterone level in CUMS-treated rats [ 1 , 48 ].…”

Study of Sex Differences in Duloxetine Efficacy for Depression in Transgenic Mouse Models

“…Such controversial findings might be related to specific antidepressant or specific interaction between antidepressant and neurotransmitters. For example, the 5-HT system in the PFC seemed to be associated with reward behavior and positive affections (Varea et al, 2007 ), while the roles of 5-HT and DA in HPC functions may involve emotional alterations and anti-depression (Robertson et al, 2005 ; Boldrini et al, 2012 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ).…”

Effect of Sox10 on remyelination of the hippocampus in cuprizone‐induced demyelinated mice

“…The tail suspension test (TST) was designed to assess the level of depression in mice (Jiang et al, 2018). The tail of mice ( n = 15/group) was clamped and suspended so that the mice were hanging upside down while their head was about 10 cm away from the bottom, facing the camera.…”