ABSTRACT
Sini Powder (SP), a traditional Chinese herbal formula, has long been used to treat depression in patients, although the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we found that rats treated with SP extract for 7 days showed a significant increase in swimming time and reduction in immobility time in forced swimming test in a dose-dependent manner, without changes in locomotion. These effects could be attributed to SP's modulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, because a single pretreatment of SP extract could rescue increased serum corticosterone and plasma adrenocorticotropin levels induced by acute elevated platform stress. A single pretreatment of SP extract could also elevate the mRNA expression of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors. In conclusion, our results suggest that SP extract may act as an anti-stress medication to produce antidepressant-like effects.
Subject(s)
Antidepressive Agents/administration & dosage , Depression/drug therapy , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage , Adrenocorticotropic Hormone/blood , Animals , Corticosterone/blood , Depression/genetics , Depression/metabolism , Depression/physiopathology , Hippocampus/drug effects , Humans , Male , Pituitary-Adrenal System/drug effects , Pituitary-Adrenal System/metabolism , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Receptors, Glucocorticoid/genetics , Receptors, Glucocorticoid/metabolismABSTRACT
This study was conducted to investigate the chemical constituents in the root of Dysosma versipellis(Hance) M. Cheng. The constituents were isolated by silica gel, lichroprep RP-C(18) and pharmadex LH-20 column chromatography and the IR, MS, NMR, 2D-NMR spectroscopic analysis were employed for the structural elucidation. Ten compounds were isolated from the 95% ethanol extract of Dysosma versipellis, their structures were elucidated as dysoverine D (1), dysoverine F (2), dysoverine A (3), podoverine A (4), α-peltatin (5), rutin (6), kaempferol-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (7), quercetin-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (8), kaempferol (9) and quercetin (10). Compound 2 is a new compound, and compounds 1 and 3-6 were isolated from this plant for the first time.
