Anti-depressant-like effect of curculigoside isolated from &lt;i&gt;Curculigo orchioides&lt;/i&gt; Gaertn root

Jing Wang,Xiao-Li Zhao,Lan Gao

doi:10.4314/tjpr.v15i10.15

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the anti-depressant-like activity of curculigoside from Curculigo orchioides Gaertn and its underlying mechanism(s). Methods: Antidepressant-like activity was determined in mice through forced swimming test (FST), tail suspending test (TST), and open field test (OFT). Mechanism of action was investigated by measuring levels of dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE), and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in chronic mild stress (CMS) rats using high-performance liquid chromatography-electron capture detector (HPLC-ECD). Western blotting was used to investigate the effect of curculigoside on the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein in rats. Results: In FST and TST, treatment of mice with curculigoside (10, 20, 40 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly reduced immobility time, which was, however, unaffected by locomotor activity when assessed in the OFT. The treatment led to significant increases in DA, NE and 5-HT, and up-regulation of BDNF protein expression in the hippocampus of the CMS rats. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that curculigoside exerts significant anti-depressant-like activity on mice, the mechanism of which involves increase in the levels of DA, NE, 5-HT, and up-regulation of BDNF expression. Thus, curculigoside can be considered a potential drug candidate for the treatment of depressive disorders. Keywords: Curculigo orchioides Gaertn, Curculigoside, Antidepressant-like activity, Behavioral studies

Highlights

Depression, a common mental disorder, is a leading cause of disability all over the world [1]
The effects of curculigoside on the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein in the hippocampus of the chronic mild stress (CMS) rats were determined by western blotting
The results of the present study show that in the forced swimming test (FST) and TST on mice, treatment with curculigoside significantly decreased immobility time in a dose-dependent manner, which indicates that curculigoside has antidepressant activity in the ‘‘behavior despair’’ test

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Depression, a common mental disorder, is a leading cause of disability all over the world [1]. The effects of curculigoside on the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein in the hippocampus of the CMS rats were determined by western blotting. In these experiments, 50 mice or rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 10), including one control, one positive control and three curculigoside testing groups. Mice were pre-treated with curculigoside (10, 20, 40 mg/kg, p.o.) 1 h before the FST, and imipramine (15 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered 30 min before the test. Assessment of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF) expression by western blotting This open field test (OFT) was performed to eliminate possible influence of drug treatments on locomotor activity. Statistical analysis was performed via one-way analysis of variance, followed by Dunnett’s test using SPSS software version 19.0, and differences were considered significant at p < 0.05

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION