Effect of Chaihu Shugan Powder on the content of 5-hydroxytryptamine and the expression of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 in depression rats / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effect of Chaihu Shugan Powder (CSP) on the content of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the hippocampus and the expression of tryptophan hydroxylase 2(TPH2) in median raphe nuclei in depression rats.Methods SD rats were randomly divided into normal group(n=12),model group (n=12),fluoxetine group (n=12),low-dose and high-dose CSP group (n =12,respectively).Depression model was made by reserpine intraperitoneal injection.During the experiment,the weight and the open-field scores were calculated;the content of 5-HT was detected by ELISA.The expression of TPH2 in median raphe nuclei was detected by Western blot.Results Compared with the weight ((225.02±5.23) g),the open-field scores ((12.6± 5.1)score) and content of 5-HT ((1.09±0.27) ng/ml) in the model group,high-dose CSP showed significantly improve the depressive rats in weight,open field score and content of 5-HT ((238.78±5.16) g,(15.6±7.8) score and (1.80±0.58) ng/ml,respectively;P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).The expression of TPH2 (0.66±0.21) in median raphe nuclei in the high-dose CSP group was apparently increased compared with that in the model group(0.16±0.04) (P ＜0.01).Conclusion CSP have the effects of anti-depression,which could be related with the increase of the 5-HT content in the hippocampus and the expression of TPH2 in median raphe nuclei.