title: Gastrodia elata Bl. Attenuated learning deficits induced by forced-swimming stress in the inhibitory avoidance task and Morris water maze.
abstract: This study adopted the forced-swimming paradigm to induce depressive symptoms in rats and evaluated the effects on learning and memory processing. Furthermore, the effects of the water extract of Gastrodia elata Bl., a well-known Chinese traditional medicine, on amnesia in rats subjected to the forced-swimming procedure were studied. Rats were subjected to the forced-swimming procedure, and the inhibitory avoidance task and Morris water maze were used to assess learning and memory performance. The acquisition of the two tasks was mostly impaired after the 15-minute forced-swimming procedure. Administration of the water extract of G. elata Bl. for 21 consecutive days at a dosage of 0.5 or 1.0 g/kg of body weight significantly improved retention in the inhibitory avoidance test, and the lower dose showed a better effect than the higher one and the antidepressant fluoxetine (18 mg/kg of body weight). In the Morris water maze, the lower dose of the water extract of G. elata Bl. significantly improved retention by shortening escape latency in the first test session and increasing the time in searching the target zone during the probe test. These findings suggest that water extracts of G. elata Bl. ameliorate the learning and memory deficits induced by forced swimming.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pei-Ju
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Keng-Chen
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Hui-Chen
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ching-Liang
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Kuan-Pin
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Mei-Chu
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Lee-Yan
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Sheen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D031668:Gastrodia / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013550:Swimming
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal