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Aim: To investigate the effects of Yueju pill on depressive-like behavior and neurogenesis in chronic corticosterone (CORT) induced mice. Methods: Male C57BL/6N mice received chronic administration of CORT as well as Yueju pill. Behavioral tests were performed after the completion of treatment. The number of Ki67+ cells in the hippocampal DG region of each group was counted by immunohistochemistry test. Meanwhile, the expression levels of PKA, ERK and CREB were detected by Western blot. Results: The sucrose preference notably decreased (P < 0. 05) in CORT-induced mice in SPT, and it was raised obviously after Yueju treatment. The TST and NSF test displayed the similar results. The immunohistochemistry showed that the number of Ki67+ cells in the hippocampus DG significantly decreased in CORT-induced mice, while the number of Yueju group apparently increased (P < 0. 05). Western blot showed that compared with control group, the protein expressions of PKA-ERK-CREB pathway were down-regulated in CORT-induced mice, which were up-regulated after Yueju treatment (P < 0. 05). Conclusions: In CORT induced mice, Yueju pill can enhance the hippocampal neurogenesis by activating the PKA-ERK-CREB signaling pathway to display antidepressant-like effect.
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Objective: To explore the effects of Yueju pill on Nitricoxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (NO-cGMP) signaling in mouse hippocampus. Methods: Single dose of Yueju pill was administered, and mouse hippocampi were got out after administration for 12 min, 24 min, 30 min, 3 h and 24 h. The concentrations of NO and cGMP were detected by ELISA. Other mice were randomly divided into the following groups: control group (con), L-arg group (L-arg), Yueju pill group (YJ) and L-arg+ Yueju pill group (L-arg+YJ) . Control group was treated with saline, YJ group was treated with Yueju pill (13.5 g·kg-1), and L-arg group was treated with L-arg (750 mg·kg-1) . Tail suspension test (TST) was measured30 min after administration.Results:12 min after YJ administration, the concentration of NO was significantly lower than that in control group (P ＜ 0.05) and the concentration of c GMP was also significantly lower than that in control group (P ＜ 0.05) . In the TST test, the immobility time in YJ group was significantly shorter than that in control group (P ＜ 0.01), and the immobility time in L-arg+YJ group was significantly longer than that in YJ group (P ＜ 0.01) . In open field test (OFT), the spontaneous activity of mice were not affected by administering L-arg or YJ. Conclusion: Yueju pill may rapidly alleviate depression-like behaviors of mice through regulating NO concentration, then influencing downstream cGMP and activating the NO-cGMP signaling in cells.
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Depression has become a serious disease affecting the health of Chinese people. Yueju pill has shown a unique rapid and lasting anti-depression effect, and Yueju pill can rapidly improve Parkinson's disease with depression.The drug pair of Fructus Gardeniae and Rhizoma Ligustici Chuanxiong is necessary for traditional Chinese formula Yueju Pill for antidepressant effect. Recent studies have found the antidepressant effect of Yueju pills at regular doses, and an integrative pharmacological method was adopted to predict the targets and pathways of Yueju pill and explore its molecular mechanism for depression. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of clinical studies on the treatment of depression with Yueju pills and significant therapeutic effects. A new clinical study found that Yueju pill may have antidepressant effects and increase serum BDNF concentration. This paper reviewed the recent research progress of Yueju pill in the treatment of depression in recent 5 years.
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This study aimed at exploring the mechanism of the rapid antidepressant effects of Yueju pill on depression of Parkinson's disease (DPD).The fast antidepressant effects of Yueju pill in this study was evaluated by behavior tests,such as open field test (OFT),tail suspension test (TST),forced swimming test (FST) and sucrose preference test (SPT) according to the modeling method of subacute DPD in the literature.In vitro experiment was implemented using PC12 cells.Moreover,the protective effects of Yueju pill on 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) induced neural injury with the engagement of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) were expounded.As a result,it was found that the immobility time of the mice in the model group was significantly longer than that in the normal group in TST and FST tests (P ＜ 0.01),and the SPT ratio of mice in the model group remarkably decreased (P ＜ 0.01).In addition,the immobility time of DPD mice was shortened in the FST test after administering Yueju pill (P ＜ 0.05),while the SPT ratio was increased (P ＜ 0.01).Yueju pill took the effects on the third day after a single administration.The phosphorylation of CREB (p-CREB) in MPP+ induced PC12 cells was decreased in comparison with the model group,while the expression of p-CREB was up-regulated with the administration of Yueju pill (P ＜ 0.01).In conclusion,DPD was quickly mitigated after the treatment of Yueju pill,the activation of CREB signaling pathway and its neuroprotective effects may be the mechanism behind it.
ABSTRACT
Abstact:Aim To identify whether the petroleum e-ther fraction of Yueju pill (YJ-PE)could exhibit a po-tent rapid antidepressant effect and to investigate the underlying biological mechanism involved.Methods Fourty-four male KM mice were randomly assigned to five groups:the control group (saline group),low dosage of YJ-PE,middle dosage of YJ-PE,high dos-age of YJ-PE and ketamine.After a single drug admin-istration,we used tail suspension test (TST)to test the rapid antidepressant effect of YJ-PE in KMmice at 30 min.Another twenty-four male KM mice were ass-inged to three groups:control group,screened effective low dosage of YJ-PE group and ketamine group.We usd TST to assess these mice at 24 h post a single ad- ministration.Western blot was performed to examine the expression of BDNF and TrkB in hippocampus of KMmice at 30 min and 24 h post a single administra-tion.Results An acute administration of YJ-PE de-creased the immobility time of KMmice in TST and in-creased the expression of BDNF and TrkB as soon as 30min post a single administration and lasted at least for 24 hours.Conclusion YJ-PE (low dosage)ex-hibits a rapid antidepressant-like potent,and the po-tent rapid antidepressant effects of YJ-PE are associat-ed with the up-regulation of BDNF and TrkB.