Gambarana C, Tolu P L, Masi F, Rinaldi M, Giachetti D, Morazzoni P, De Montis M G
Department of Neuroscience, University of Siena, Italy.
Pharmacopsychiatry. 2001 Jul;34 Suppl 1:S42-4. doi: 10.1055/s-2001-15515.
The treatment of non-selected depressed patients with a hydro-alcoholic extract of Hypericum perforatum has been reported to have an efficacy similar to that of classical antidepressants. The effects of H. perforatum on three animal depression models have been studied: (a) an acute form of escape deficit (ED) induced by unavoidable stress; (b) a chronic model of ED, which can be maintained by the administration of mild stressors on alternate days; (c) a model of anhedonia based on the finding that repeated stressors prevent the development of appetitive behavior induced by vanilla sugar in satiated rats fed ad libitum. H. perforatum: (i) acutely protects animals from the sequelae of unavoidable stress; (ii) reverts the chronic escape deficit state maintained by repeated stressors and (iii) preserves the animal's capacity to acquire motivated appetitive behavior. Exposure to chronic stress not only induces escape deficit, but also decreases extraneuronal levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens shell; both behavioral and neurochemical effects are reverted by long-term treatment with antidepressants. Three-week treatment with H. perforatum reverted the chronic stress effect on extraneuronal dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. A consistent body of data in the literature suggests that, among the components of H. perforatum extract, hyperforin is the compound (or one of the compounds) responsible for the antidepressant activity. We compared the efficacy of the total extract with the efficacy of hyperforin after p.o. administration. In the acute-escape deficit model, hyperforin showed a potency of about ten times that of the total extract in protecting rats from the sequelae of unavoidable stress. Thus, hyperforin appears to be the most likely active component responsible for the antidepressant activity of H. perforatum.
据报道，用贯叶连翘水醇提取物治疗未经选择的抑郁症患者，其疗效与传统抗抑郁药相似。已研究了贯叶连翘对三种动物抑郁模型的影响：(a) 由不可避免的应激诱导的急性逃避缺陷（ED）形式；(b) ED的慢性模型，可通过隔天给予轻度应激源来维持；(c) 一种快感缺失模型，基于反复应激源会阻止随意进食的饱腹大鼠中香草糖诱导的食欲行为发展这一发现。贯叶连翘：(i) 能急性保护动物免受不可避免应激的后遗症影响；(ii) 能逆转由反复应激源维持的慢性逃避缺陷状态；(iii) 能保留动物获得有动机的食欲行为的能力。暴露于慢性应激不仅会诱导逃避缺陷，还会降低伏隔核壳中外神经元多巴胺水平；行为和神经化学效应均可通过长期使用抗抑郁药得到逆转。用贯叶连翘进行为期三周的治疗可逆转慢性应激对伏隔核中外神经元多巴胺的影响。文献中的一系列一致数据表明，在贯叶连翘提取物的成分中，金丝桃素是负责抗抑郁活性的化合物（或化合物之一）。我们比较了口服给药后总提取物与金丝桃素的疗效。在急性逃避缺陷模型中，金丝桃素在保护大鼠免受不可避免应激后遗症影响方面的效力约为总提取物的十倍。因此，金丝桃素似乎是贯叶连翘抗抑郁活性最可能的活性成分。
