Myricetin Attenuates Depressant-Like Behavior in Mice Subjected to Repeated Restraint Stress.

Zegang Ma,Lin Cui,Qimin Wang,Guilin Wang

doi:10.3390/ijms161226102

Abstract

Increasing evidence has shown that oxidative stress may be implicated in chronic stress-induced depression. Several flavonoids with anti-oxidative effects have been proved to be anti-depressive. Myricetin is a well-defined flavonoid with the anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and neuroprotective properties. The aim of the present study is to investigate the possible effects of chronic administration of myricetin on depressant-like behaviors in mice subjected to repeated restraint (4 h/day) for 21 days. Our results showed that myricetin administration specifically reduced the immobility time in mice exposed to chronic stress, as tested in both forced swimming test and tail suspension test. Myricetin treatment improved activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) in the hippocampus of stressed mice. In addition, myricetin treatment decreased plasma corticosterone levels of those mice subjected to repeated restraint stress. The effects of myricetin on the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in hippocampus were also investigated. The results revealed that myricetin normalized the decreased BDNF levels in mice subjected to repeated restraint stress. These findings provided more evidence that chronic administration of myricetin improves helpless behaviors. The protective effects of myricetin might be partially mediated by an influence on BDNF levels and might be attributed to myricetin-mediated anti-oxidative stress in the hippocampus.

Highlights

Depression is a common and life-threatening illness
Therapeutic potentials of a large number of herbal medicines have been investigated in a great variety of animal models [4]
We found that myricetin at the dosage of 50 mg/kg decreased immobility time in mice subjected to repeated restraint stress, as shown in both Forced Swimming Test (FST) and TST

Summary

Introduction

Depression is a common and life-threatening illness. It has a significant incidence in the population [1]. Numerous antidepressant drugs are available presumably acting on different targets. Approximately two-thirds of the depressed patients benefit from the current treatments, long-term effects are still disappointing [2]. The search for novel therapeutic compounds that can alleviate depression have been extensively explored over the past decades, in which herbal medicines are considered to be promising alternates [3]. Therapeutic potentials of a large number of herbal medicines have been investigated in a great variety of animal models [4]

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Results