Albiflorin Ameliorates Depressive-like Behaviors in Mice Induced by Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress

Abstract

Depression is a common psychiatric disorder with a high recurrence rate leading to suicidal thoughts in some cases. Albiflorin is a monoterpene glycoside that is commonly used in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, the underlying mechanism of albiflorin on depression is unclear and remains to be investigated. To this end, a mouse model of depression was established via chronic unpredictable mild stress treatment. Next, the effects of albiflorin on depression in these mice were evaluated using the sucrose preference test, forced swim test, tail suspension test, and open field test. The results showed that chronic unpredictable mild stress decreased sucrose consumption, while albiflorin (10 mg/kg) treatment significantly increased sucrose consumption just as fluoxetine (10 mg/kg), a drug commonly used to treat depression. Moreover, both albiflorin and fluoxetine demonstrated significant decrease in immobility time in the forced swim test and tail suspension test with no change in spontaneous locomotor activities. Finally, the underlying mechanism of albiflorin was evaluated using western blot. Results showed an up-regulation of phospho-Akt without changing total-Akt, indicating that albiflorin improved the depression symptoms via inactivation of the Akt signaling pathway. Therefore, albiflorin might be a potential therapeutic treatment for depression.