Hippocampal pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide mediates rapid antidepressant-like effects of Yueju pill.

Yueju pill, a classic Chinese Medicine formulated, was recently found to produce rapid antidepressant-like effects in a PKA-CREB signaling-dependent manner. In our study, we found that the Yueju pill induced a remarkable increase in PACAP. The intracerebroventricular injection of PACAP agonist induced a rapid antidepressant-like effect; conversely, the intrahippocampal infusion of a PACAP antagonist reversed the antidepressant response of the Yueju pill.

Quercitrin Rapidly Alleviated Depression-like Behaviors in Lipopolysaccharide-Treated Mice: The Involvement of PI3K/AKT/NF-κB Signaling Suppression and CREB/BDNF Signaling Restoration in the Hippocampus.

Quercitrin (Qc) is a well-known flavonoid compound that exerts anti-inflammation effects on various diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the antidepressant-like response of Qc and its underlying mechanisms concerning neuroinflammation and neuroplasticity in mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression-like behaviors. The results showed a single dose of Qc (10 mg/kg) produced an antidepressant-like effect at 2 h postadministration and lasted for at least 3 days.

Latent Sex Differences in CaMKII-nNOS Signaling That Underlie Antidepressant-Like Effects of Yueju-Ganmaidazao Decoction in the Hippocampus.

Previous studies have demonstrated that Yueju-Ganmaidazao (YG) decoction induces rapid antidepressant-like effects, and the antidepressant response is mostly dependent on the suppression of nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling in male mice. This study aimed to investigate the sex difference mediated by calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)-neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) signaling involved in the antidepressant-like effect of YG in mice. We found that the immobility times in the tail suspension test (TST) were found to be decreased after the single injection of YG in male and female mice with the same dosage.

Proteomic insights into protostane triterpene biosynthesis regulatory mechanism after MeJA treatment in Alisma orientale (Sam.) Juz.

Protostane triterpenes in Alisma orientale (Sam.) Juz. have unique structural features with distinct pharmacological activities.

Beverage Treats Atherosclerosis by Regulating Gut Microbiota in ApoE Mice.

Background: beverage (AOB) is a Chinese traditional medicine formulated with a diversity of medicinal plants and used for treating metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis (AS) since time ago. Given the current limited biological research on AOB, the mechanism by which AOB treats AS is unknown. This study investigats the role of AOB-induced gut microbiota regulation in the expansion of AS.

Crocin Reverses Depression-Like Behavior in Parkinson Disease Mice via VTA-mPFC Pathway.

Depression is a common non-motor symptom in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and difficult to treat. Crocin is a natural multipotential neuroprotective compound that has been shown to elicit antidepressant activity and is promising for the therapy of neuropsychological diseases. Here, we investigated the therapeutic effect of crocin in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease depression (PDD) and clarified the underlying mechanism.

Methyl jasmonate promote protostane triterpenes accumulation by up-regulating the expression of squalene epoxidases in Alisma orientale.

Protostane triterpenes, which are found in Alisma orientale, are tetracyclic triterpenes with distinctive pharmacological activities. The natural distribution of protostane triterpenes is limited mainly to members of the botanical family Alismataceae. Squalene epoxidase (SE) is the key rate-limiting enzyme in triterpene biosynthesis.

Yueju-Ganmaidazao Decoction confers rapid antidepressant-like effects and the involvement of suppression of NMDA/NO/cGMP signaling.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Yueju-Ganmaidazao Decoction (YG) is a multiherbal medicine prescribed for treatment of mood disorder, consisting of two classical traditional Chinese herbal medicine Yueju and Ganmaidazao. Yueju and Ganmaidazao both are used for depression treatment. The combined decoction of Yueju and Ganmaidazao is prescribed to achieve optimal clinical outcomes by dealing with different symptoms of depression.

NMDA receptors and L-arginine/nitric oxide/cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway contribute to the antidepressant-like effect of Yueju pill in mice.

The present study aims to evaluate the involvement of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor and nitric oxide (NO)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) system in antidepressant-like effects of Yueju pill (YJ), a Chinese herbal medicine. The immobility time in tail suspension test (TST) and forced swim test (FST) was used to assess the antidepressant effects. Prior administration of L-arginine (750 mg/kg, intraperitoneal [i.

Involvement of NMDA-AKT-mTOR Signaling in Rapid Antidepressant-Like Activity of Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli-tang on Olfactory Bulbectomized Mice.

Fast-onset antidepressants are urgently needed. Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli-tang (CLM), a classic Chinese herbal medicine, has been used for antidepressant treatment with long history. Olfactory bulbectomization (OB) model is validated for identification of rapid antidepressant efficacy.

Immediate and persistent antidepressant-like effects of Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli-tang are associated with instantly up-regulated BDNF in the hippocampus of mice.

Conventional antidepressants have a disadvantage in delayed onset of efficacy. Here, we aimed to evaluate the immediate and persistent antidepressant-like action of a classic herbal medicine Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli decoction (CLM) as well as the action of CLM on hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) over time. CLM consists of Xiaochaihu decoction (XchD), Longgu-Muli (LM) and several other herbs.

Full genetic analysis for genome-wide association study of Fangji: a powerful approach for effectively dissecting the molecular architecture of personalized traditional Chinese medicine.

Elucidation of the systems biology foundation underlying the effect of Fangji, which are multi-herbal traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas, is one of the major aims in the field. The numerous bioactive ingredients of a Fangji deal with the multiple targets of a complex disease, which is influenced by a number of genes and their interactions with the environment. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) is an unbiased approach for dissecting the genetic variants underlying complex diseases and individual response to a given treatment.

Transgenerational impairment of hippocampal Akt-mTOR signaling and behavioral deficits in the offspring of mice that experience postpartum depression-like illness.

Postpartum depression (PPD) has adverse effects on offspring and increases their vulnerability to psychiatric disorders such as depression. Akt-mTOR signaling in the hippocampus is implicated in depression but its role in the behavioral deficits in PPD offspring remains unknown. By using a prepregnancy stress model of PPD in which Balb/c females that experience chronic stress before pregnancy show long-lasting PPD-like behaviors, we tested depression-like behaviors in PPD offspring (PPD-F1) at juvenile and adult ages as well as in the second generation (PPD-F2) produced by cross of male PPD-F1 with naïve females.

Chronic stress prior to pregnancy potentiated long-lasting postpartum depressive-like behavior, regulated by Akt-mTOR signaling in the hippocampus.

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects over 10% of new mothers and adversely impacts the health of offspring. One of the greatest risk factors for PPD is prepregnancy stress but the underlying biological mechanism is unknown. Here we constructed an animal model which recapitulated prepregnancy stress induced PPD and tested the role of Akt-mTOR signaling in the hippocampus.

Crocetin ester improves myocardial ischemia via Rho/ROCK/NF-κB pathway.

Crocetin ester (CE) is the active ingredient of Crocus sativus L. stigmas and Gardenia jasminoides Ellis fruit. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of CE on isoproterenol (ISO)-induced acute myocardial ischemia (AMI) through Rho/ROCK/NF-κB pathway and explore its underlying mechanism.

Instant and Persistent Antidepressant Response of Gardenia Yellow Pigment Is Associated with Acute Protein Synthesis and Delayed Upregulation of BDNF Expression in the Hippocampus.

Gardenia yellow pigment (GYP) is a collection of compounds with shared structure of crocin, which confers antidepressant activity. GYP is remarkably enriched in Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, implicated in rapid antidepressant effects that are exerted through enhanced neuroplasticity. This study aims to investigate the rapid antidepressant-like activity of GYP and its underlying mechanism.

PKA-CREB-BDNF signaling regulated long lasting antidepressant activities of Yueju but not ketamine.

Yueju confers antidepressant effects in a rapid and long-lasting manner, similar to ketamine. CREB (cAMP-response element binding protein) signaling is implicated in depression pathology and antidepressant responses. However, the role of CREB and associated brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling in rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects remains unclear.

[Effect of Postpartum Depression on Adolescent Depression of Mice Offspring].

Objective: To study the effect of postpartum depression (PPD) on adolescent depression of mice offspring.

Methods: Totally 48 Balb/c female mice were equally randomized into control group and stress group. Control group was not given any stress, whereas stress group were given chronic stress: constraining (6 h/d) combined with light stimulation for 24 hours (twice a week).

An association study revealed substantial effects of dominance, epistasis and substance dependence co-morbidity on alcohol dependence symptom count.

Alcohol dependence is a complex disease involving polygenes, environment and their interactions. Inadequate consideration of these interactions may have hampered the progress on genome-wide association studies of alcohol dependence. By using the dataset of the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment with 3838 subjects, we conducted a genome-wide association studies of alcohol dependence symptom count (ADSC) with a full genetic model considering additive, dominance, epistasis and their interactions with ethnicity, as well as conditions of co-morbid substance dependence.

Two standardized fractions of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis with rapid antidepressant effects are differentially associated with BDNF up-regulation in the hippocampus.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Gardenia jasminoides Ellis (GJ) is one of the five constituents of Yueju pill, a Traditional Chinese Medicine for treatment of syndromes associated with mood disorders. Recently, preclinical and clinical studies suggest that Yueju pill confers rapid antidepressant effects. GJ is identified as the constituent primary for Yueju pill's rapid antidepressant effects.

Paeonol attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced depressive-like behavior in mice.

The present study was designed to detect the anti-depressant effects of paeonol and the possible mechanisms in the lipopolysaccharide-induced depressive-like behavior. Open-field test(OFT), tail suspension test(TST) and forced swimming test(FST) were used to evaluate the behavioral activity. The contents of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) in mice hippocampus were determined by HPLC-ECD.

Instant and Lasting Down-Regulation of NR1 Expression in the Hippocampus is Associated Temporally with Antidepressant Activity After Acute Yueju.

Accumulating evidence indicated that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are involved in the pathophysiology of depression and implicated in therapeutic targets. NMDA antagonists, such as ketamine, displayed fast-onset and long-lasting antidepressant activity in preclinical and clinical studies. Previous studies showed that Yueju pill exerts antidepressant effects similar to ketamine.

Characterization and function of the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase gene in Alisma orientale (Sam.) Juz. and its relationship with protostane triterpene production.

Protostane triterpenes from Alisma orientale (Sam.) Juz. have exhibited distinct pharmacological properties that are currently in high demand.

Involvement of normalized NMDA receptor and mTOR-related signaling in rapid antidepressant effects of Yueju and ketamine on chronically stressed mice.

Yueju, a Traditional Chinese Medicine formula, exhibited fast-onset antidepressant responses similar to ketamine. This study focused on assessing the rapid and persistent antidepressant efficacy of Yueju and ketamine in chronically stressed mice and its association with alternations in prefrontal N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-related activity. Chronic mild stress (CMS) led to deficits in sucrose preference test (SPT), forced swim test, tail suspension test, and novelty-suppressed feeding test, which were improved differently by acute Yueju or ketamine administration.