ABSTRACT
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common affective disorder.With its unique characteristics and advantages,traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played an important role in the treatment of MDD.Recent researches have revealed that the neuroinflammation-induced neurogenesis reduction were the key pathology of MDD.This analysis indicated that salvia was frequently used for treatment of MDD from the prescriptions reported in literatures.Salvianolic acid (SalB),one of main active compounds of salvia,had showed anti-inflammation and neuroprotection effects in previous studies.In this review,we summarized the antidepressant effects of SalB through regulating microglial activation,inhibiting neuroinflammation and promoting neurogenesis.According to the theory of removing blood stasis for promoting tissue regeneration,it was suggested that the novel antidepressant strategies for antiinflammatory and neuroprotective activities were through microglia-modulating pathway with TCM.