Pharmacological Mechanism of Xiaoyaosan in Treating Depression Due to Liver Stagnation and Spleen Deficiency / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Depression belongs to the category of "stagnation syndrome" in traditional Chinese medicine. There are many clinical types of depression in which liver stagnation and spleen deficiency syndrome is one of the main types. As a classic prescription for liver-soothing and spleen-strengthening, Xiaoyaosan has a definite curative effect in the treatment of depression due to liver stagnation and spleen deficiency. With fewer adverse reactions, a high safety and good patient compliance, it can be combined with western medicine to reduce the recurrence rate and adverse reactions of western medicine, and has become the focus and hotspot of research in recent years. Although many experts and scholars have conducted a lot of research on the pharmacological mechanism of Xiaoyaosan in the treatment of depression due to liver stagnation and spleen deficiency, its mechanism is still unclear. In addition, there are many types of animal models for depression due to liver stagnation and spleen deficiency but only a few systematic reports on Xiaoyaosan in treating depression of liver stagnation and spleen deficiency. Therefore, based on two classic models of chronic mild unpredictable stress depression model (CUMS) and chronic restraint stress depression model (CIS), a review was conducted on the pharmacological mechanisms of Xiaoyaosan in the treatment of depression due to liver stagnation and spleen deficiency by regulating neurotransmitter concentration, affecting the expression of neurotrophic factor, regulating hytothalamus-pitutary-adrenal(HPA)axis imbalance, improving intestinal micro-ecology and gastrointestinal function, regulating endogenous metabolite levels and immune inflammatory factor levels and improving synaptic structure and plasticity, so as to provide potential guidelines for basis study and clinical application of Xiaoyaosan in the treatment of depression due to liver stagnation and spleen deficiency.