title: Anti-depressant effects of Xiaoyaosan on rat model of chronic unpredictable mild stress: a plasma metabonomics study based on NMR spectroscopy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the antidepressant effects of Xiaoyaosan (XYS) in a chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) depression model.
  
  
  METHODS
  The changes in behaviour and plasma metabolic profiles were investigated after four-week CUMS exposure and treatment. Drugs were administered during the four-week period of CUMS, with the healthy group serving as negative controls, and the fluoxetine and venlafaxine groups serving as positive controls. Plasma samples were collected at 28th day, and the plasma metabolic profiling was measured using NMR, followed by multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exposure to CUMS for four weeks caused depression-like behaviour in rats, as indicated by significant decreases in weight gain, sucrose consumption and locomotor activity. Eleven potential biomarkers, including seven in the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill spectra, five in the diffusion-edited spectra, and one in both were identified. It was found that trimethylamine-N-oxide, alanine, β-hydroxybutyrate, valine, leucine/isoleucine, low-density lipoprotein/very low-density lipoprotein and lipids were lower and phosphatidylcholine, high-density lipoprotein, choline and N-acetyl glycoproteins were higher in CUMS-treated rats, as compared with controls. XYS significantly suppressed behavioural changes and attenuated plasma metabolite changes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  XYS produced an obvious antidepressant effect, and the metabonomic approach benefits estimation of the pharmacodynamic action of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.
authors.affiliation: Modern Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine of Shanxi University, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Jie
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu-Zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Zhong-Feng
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Zhen-Yu
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiao-Xia
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Hai-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Li-Zeng
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Guan-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Xue-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Qin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003511:Cyclohexanols / Q000494:pharmacology; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy; D013395:Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000069470:Venlafaxine Hydrochloride
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D003511:Cyclohexanols; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C532268:xiaoyaosan; D005473:Fluoxetine; D013395:Sucrose; D000069470:Venlafaxine Hydrochloride