β-asarone reverses chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression-like behavior and promotes hippocampal neurogenesis in rats.
In this study, we investigated the influence of β-asarone, the major ingredient of Acorus tatarinowii Schott, on depressive-like behavior induced by the chronic unpredictable mild stresses (CUMS) paradigm and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. The results show that β-asarone treatment partially reversed the CUMS-induced depression-like behaviors in both the forced swim and sucrose preference tests. The behavioral effects were associated with increased hippocampal neurogenesis indicated by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) immunoreactivity. β-Asarone treatment significantly increased the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) at levels of transcription and translation. Moreover, CUMS caused significant reduction in ERK1/2 and CREB phosphorylation, both of which were partially attenuated by β-asarone administration. It is important to note that β-asarone treatment had no effect on total levels or phosphorylation state of any of the proteins examined in ERK1/2-CREB pathway in no stress rats, suggesting that β-asarone acts in a stress-dependent manner to block ERK1/2-CREB signaling. We did not observe a complete reversal of depression-like behaviors to control levels by β-asarone. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to demonstrate that adult neurogenesis is involved in the antidepressant-like behavioral effects of β-asarone, suggesting that β-asarone is a promising candidate for the treatment of depression.
Department of Pathology, Qiqihar Medical University, 333 BuKui Street, JianHua District, Qiqihar 161006, China.
Haiying
H
Dong
Department of Pathology, Qiqihar Medical University, 333 BuKui Street, JianHua District, Qiqihar 161006, China.
Zhiying
Z
Gao
Department of Pathology, Qiqihar Medical University, 333 BuKui Street, JianHua District, Qiqihar 161006, China.
Hua
H
Rong
Department of Pathology, Qiqihar Medical University, 333 BuKui Street, JianHua District, Qiqihar 161006, China.
Ming
M
Jin
Department of Pathology, Qiqihar Medical University, 333 BuKui Street, JianHua District, Qiqihar 161006, China. xjzhang3108@126.com.
Xiaojie
X
Zhang
D000081248:Allylbenzene Derivatives; D000818:Animals; D000840:Anisoles / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D013550:Swimming
D000081248:Allylbenzene Derivatives; D000840:Anisoles; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C012195:asarone