ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of health Qigong Wuqinxi exercise on mild depression in college students and analyze the changes in hydrogen proton magnetic resonance spectra (H-MRS) in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus after the exercise.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty-eight volunteer college students, including 30 with mild depression and 28 healthy students, were randomized into the intervention group and non-intervention group. The students in the intervention group were asked to practice health Qigong Wuqinxi training for 12 weeks and those in the non-intervention group did not engage in such training. For each subject, BECK Depression Self-reported questionnaire (BDI), Hamilton Depression rating scale (HAMD) score, and the metabolic parameters ofH-MRS in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were evaluated before and after the intervention.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Before the intervention, the scores of BDI and HAMD in the depression group were significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.01), and were lowered obviously after the 12-week intervention (P<0.01). Compared with the control group,H-MRS in the depression group before intervention showed significantly increased NAA/Cr value in the left prefrontal cortex, Cho/Cr value in the bilateral hippocampus and the left frontal lobe, and Cho/Cr value of the left hippocampus and right frontal lobe (P<0.05) with significantly lowered NAA/Cho value in the bilateral prefrontal and Cho/NAA value in the right hippocampus (P<0.05). After 12 weeks of intervention, NAA/Cr value in the bilateral hippocampus and the NAA/Cho value in the right hippocampus were significantly lowered (P<0.05), and NAA/Cho value in the right prefrontal and Cho/NAA value in the right hippocampus were significantly increased (P<0.05) in the depression group. Before the intervention, Pearson correlation analysis showed that the scores of HAMD and BDI were positively correlated with Cho/Cr value in the hippocampus and NAA/Cr value in prefrontal lobe (P<0.01) and inversely with NAA/Cho in prefrontal lobe and Cho/NAA value in the hippocampus (P<0.05); after the intervention, the scores of HAMD and BDI were positively correlated with NAA/Cr value in the hippocampus and Cho/Cr value in the left hippocampus (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Exercise of health Qigong Wuqinxi can reduce depression scale scores in patients with mild depression and improve the metabolic indexes (NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr values) in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus.</p>
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the protective effects of rutin against learning and memory impairment induced by trimethyltin (TMT) and investigate the possible mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty 6- to 9-week-old male BALB/c mice were randomized equally into saline group (control), TMT group, TMT+rutin group, and rutin group. Mouse models of learning and memory impairment were establish by acute TMT (2.25 mg/kg) exposure. In TMT+rutin and rutin treatment groups, the mice received intraperitioneal injection of rutin (10 mg/kg) for 1 week before TMT exposure. Twenty-four hours after TMT exposure, Morris water maze test was employed to test the escape latency of the mice, and the synaptophysin expression in the hippocampus and cortex were analyzed by Western blotting.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared that in TMT group, the escape latency of the mice in water maze test was significantly shorter in the other 3 groups (P<0.05); the escape latency in TMT +rutin group was similar with that in the control and rutin groups (P>0.05). Western blotting showed significantly decreased synaptophysin expression in the hippocampus and cortex in TMT group (P<0.05); synaptophysin expression in TMT +rutin group increased significantly compared with that in TMT group (P<0.05) but showed no statistical significance from that in rutin and control groups (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Rutin pretreatment offers protective effect against TMT-induced learning and memory impairment in mice possibly by antagonizing decreased synaptophysin in the hippocampus and cortex.</p>