INFLUENCE OF BUSHEN SHUGAN RECIPE ON TNF-α/NF-κB SIGNALING PATHWAY OF FRONTAL CORTEX IN SENILE DEPRESSION MICE

Di Li, Meiying Huang, Zhijing Zhang, Ziyi Guo, Huixian Jie, Jianping Yao*

School of Basic Medicine, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Henan, China

Introduction: To investigate the Influence of BushenShugan Recipe on TNF-α/NF-κB signaling pathway of frontal cortex in senile depression mice.

Materials and methods: Forty-eight 6-month-old male SAMP8 mice were divided into 6 groups according to random number table, including blank control group, depression model group, fluoxetine group and BushenShugan Recipe high, medium and low dose groups, with 8 mice in each group. Except for the blank control group, the other groups of mice were treated with chronic mild unpredictable stress to replicate the senile depression model. At the same time of modeling, the mice in the drug intervention group were gavaged with corresponding drugs, and the mice in the blank control group and the depression model group were gavaged with an equal volume of normal saline for a total of 21 days. The protein expressions of TNF-α, NF-κBp65, IDO and IL-6 in the frontal cortex of mice were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the mRNA expressions of TNF-α, NF-κBp65, IDO and IL-6 were detected by qRT-PCR. The contents of 5-HT, DA and NE in the frontal cortex of mice were detected by high performance liquid chromatography.

Results: Compared with the blank control group, the protein contents and mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, NF-κBp65, IDO and IL-6 in the frontal cortex of mice in the depression model group were significantly increased (P<0.05). The contents of NE were significantly decreased (P<0.05). Compared with the depression model group, the contents of 5-HT, DA and NE in the frontal cortex of the mice in the high, medium and low dose groups of BushenShugan Recipe and the fluoxetine group were significantly increased (P<0.05). The protein content and mRNA expression of TNF-α, NF-κBp65, IDO and IL-6 were significantly decreased (P<0.05). Compared with the high-dose BushenShugan Recipe group, the expression levels of TNF-α, NF-κBp65 protein and mRNA in the frontal cortex of mice in the middle-dose group were more significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the expression level of IDO mRNA was significantly down-regulated (P<0.05); the contents of 5-HT, DA and NE in the frontal cortex of mice in the middle-dose group and low-dose group were more significantly increased (P<0.05).

Conclusion: BushenShugan Recipe can regulate the TNF-α/NF-κB signaling pathway and monoamine neurotransmitters in the frontal cortex of mice to exert an antidepressant effect, and the effect of the middle dose of BushenShugan Recipe is better.