Abstract
Saccharina japonica is a common marine vegetable in East Asian markets and has a variety of health benefits. This study was focused on the anti-depressant/anxiety effects of Saccharina japonica ethanol extract (SJE) on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced mice and its potential mechanism in their brain. Male C57BL/6 mice were treated with mesalazine and various doses of SJE (1, 2, and 4 g/kg body weight) for 2 weeks, followed by DSS treatment at the second week. The DSS-induced mice showed depression/anxiety-like behavior, which included shorter path length in the open field test and longer immobility time in the tail suspension test. L-SJE alleviated the depression-like behaviors. In the DSS-induced mice, reduced synaptic plasticity activated microglia, increased proinflammatory cytokines, decreased anti-inflammatory cytokine, and increased expression levels of Toll-like receptors-4, nuclear factor kappa-B, NOD-like receptors 3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein, and Caspase-1 were observed, most of which were alleviated by SJE treatment. Furthermore, all the SJE groups could significantly enhance superoxide dismutase activity, while the L-SJE treatment decreased the contents of malondialdehyde, and the H-SJE treatment inhibited apoptosis. All these results showed that the SJE might serve as a nutritional agent for protecting the brain in ulcerative colitis mice.
Highlights
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease, which is associated with a mental dysfunction, and severely affects the quality of patients’ lives [1]
Effects of Saccharina japonica ethanol extract (SJE) on Depression-/Anxiety-Like Behavior and Synapse Ultrastructure in the Brain of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-Induced ulcerative colitis (UC) Mice In Open Field Test (OFT), as compared to normal mice, the DSS-induced mice showed significant decrease in their path length and increase the time spent in outer zones (Figures 1B,C)
The postsynaptic densities (PSDs) in L-SJE group mice recovered to a relatively normal level. These results demonstrated that the SJE could alleviate depression/anxiety-like behavior and maintain synaptic plasticity in the brain of DSS-induced mice
Summary
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease, which is associated with a mental dysfunction, and severely affects the quality of patients’ lives [1]. Depression and anxiety are common neurological disorders, triggered by genetic, environmental, or stress factors Their pathological mechanisms include the disturbance of neuroanalytic system, activation of immune/inflammatory responses, damage to neuroplasticity, disturbance of neurotransmitters, structural changes in brain, and disturbance of neural circuit [5]. It has been widely reported that the up-regulated pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factorα (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1β are related to depression/anxiety-like behaviors [6] The upregulation of these cytokines can be activated by inflammatory signaling pathways, such as toll-like receptors-4 (TLR4) and NODlike receptors 3 (NLRP3) signaling pathways, which are the most relevant pathways to neurological disorders induced by external or internal stress factors [7]. The mechanism of marine algae extracts rich in phlorotannins and fucoxanthin on depression/anxiety-like behavior in the IBD mice was not reported
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