Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Messina, Italy.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011 Jan 27;11:7. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-11-7.
Extracts of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort) have been traditionally recommended for a wide range of medical conditions, in particular mild-to-moderate depression. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of Hypericum perforatum treatment in a mouse model of anxiety/depressive-like behavior, induced by chronic corticosterone administration.
CD1 mice were submitted to 7 weeks corticosterone administration and then behavioral tests as Open Field (OF), Novelty-Suppressed Feeding (NSF), Forced Swim Test (FST) were performed. Cell proliferation in hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) was investigated by both 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) and doublecortin (DCX) immunohistochemistry techniques and stereological procedure was used to quantify labeled cells. Golgi-impregnation method was used to evaluate changes in dendritic spines in DG. Hypericum perforatum (30 mg/Kg) has been administered for 3 weeks and then neural development in the adult hippocampus and behavioral changes have been examined.
The anxiety/depressive-like state due to chronic corticosterone treatment was reversed by exogenous administration of Hypericum perforatum; the proliferation of progenitor cells in mice hippocampus was significantly reduced under chronic corticosterone treatment, whereas a long term treatment with Hypericum perforatum prevented the corticosterone-induced decrease in hippocampal cell proliferation. Corticosterone-treated mice exhibited a reduced spine density that was ameliorated by Hypericum perforatum administration.
These results provide evidence of morphological adaptations occurring in mature hippocampal neurons that might underlie resilient responses to chronic stress and contribute to the therapeutic effects of chronic Hypericum perforatum treatment.
贯叶金丝桃（圣约翰草）提取物传统上被推荐用于治疗多种医学病症，特别是轻度至中度抑郁症。本研究旨在研究贯叶金丝桃治疗慢性皮质酮给药诱导的焦虑/抑郁样行为的小鼠模型的效果。
CD1 小鼠接受 7 周皮质酮给药，然后进行行为测试，如旷场（OF）、新异抑制性摄食（NSF）、强迫游泳测试（FST）。通过 5-溴-2'-脱氧尿苷（BrdU）和双皮质素（DCX）免疫组织化学技术研究海马齿状回（DG）中的细胞增殖，并使用体视学程序对标记细胞进行定量。高尔基浸渍法用于评估 DG 中树突棘的变化。贯叶金丝桃（30mg/kg）给药 3 周，然后检查成年海马体中的神经发育和行为变化。
慢性皮质酮处理引起的焦虑/抑郁样状态被贯叶金丝桃的外源性给药逆转；慢性皮质酮处理导致小鼠海马祖细胞增殖显著减少，而贯叶金丝桃的长期治疗可防止皮质酮诱导的海马细胞增殖减少。皮质酮处理的小鼠表现出的棘密度降低，贯叶金丝桃给药可改善这种降低。
这些结果提供了证据表明，成熟海马神经元中发生了形态适应，这可能是对慢性应激产生弹性反应的基础，并有助于慢性贯叶金丝桃治疗的治疗效果。
