title: Pretreatment with Ginseng Fruit Saponins Affects Serotonin Expression in an Experimental Comorbidity Model of Myocardial Infarction and Depression.
abstract: We previously demonstrated that serotonin (5-HT) and 5-HT2Areceptor (5-HT2AR) levels in platelets were up- or down-regulated after myocardial infarction (MI) associated with depression. In this study, we further evaluated the effects of pretreatment with ginseng fruit saponins (GFS) on the expression of 5-HT and 5-HT2AR in MI with or without depression. Eighty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were treated with saline and GFS (n=40 per group). The animals were then randomly divided into four subgroups: sham, MI, depression, and MI + depression (n=10 per subgroup). Protein levels of 5-HT and 5-HT2AR in the serum, platelets and brain tissues were determined with ELISA. The results demonstrated that serum 5-HT levels was significantly increased by GFS pretreatment in all subgroups (except the sham subgroup) when compared with saline-treated counterparts (p<0.01). In platelets, GFS pretreatment significantly increased 5-HT levels in all subgroups when compared with their respective saline-treated counterparts (p<0.01). Brain 5-HT levels also declined with GFS pretreatment in the MI-only and depression-only subgroups (p<0.05vs.saline pretreatment). With respect to 5-HT2AR levels, platelet 5-HT2AR was decreased in GFS pretreated MI, depression and MI + depression subgroups (p<0.01vs.saline pretreatment). Similarly, brain 5-HT2AR levels decreased in all four subgroups pretreated with GFS (p<0.01vs.saline pretreatment). We conclude that GFS plays a clear role in modulating 5-HT and 5-HT2AR expressions after MI and depression. Although the effects of GFS on brain 5-HT remain to be elucidated, its therapeutic potential for comorbidities of acute cardiovascular events and depression appears to hold much promise.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Cardiology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Mei-Yan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 2Department of Geriatric-Cardiovascular Diseases, the First Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: 3Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Li-Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 4Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ding
keywords: brain; depression; ginseng; myocardial infarction; serotonin