Departamento de Bioquímica, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 88040-900, SC, Brazil.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2012 Dec;103(2):181-6. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2012.08.020. Epub 2012 Aug 31.
Ferulic acid (FA, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid) is a phytochemical compound naturally present in several plants and foods that is approved as an antioxidant additive and food preservative. It exerts a beneficial action in chronic mild stress-induced depressive-like behavior and produces an acute antidepressant-like effect in the tail suspension test (TST) through the activation of the serotonergic system. This study was aimed at investigating the possible involvement of signaling pathways in the antidepressant-like effect of acute and oral administration of FA, in the TST in mice. The anti-immobility effect of orally administered FA (0.01mg/kg, p.o.) was prevented by pretreatment of mice with H-89 (1μg/site, i.c.v., an inhibitor of PKA), KN-62 (1μg/site, i.c.v., an inhibitor of CaMKII), GF109203X (5ng/site, i.c.v., an inhibitor of PKC), U0126 (5μg/site, i.c.v., an inhibitor of MAPK/ERK) or LY294002 (10nmol/site, i.c.v., an inhibitor of PI3K), all involved with neurotrophic signaling pathways. The results demonstrated that FA exerts antidepressant-like effect in the TST in mice, through the activation of signaling pathways related to neuroplasticity, neurogenesis and cell survival.
阿魏酸（FA，4-羟基-3-甲氧基肉桂酸）是一种天然存在于多种植物和食物中的植物化学化合物，被批准为抗氧化剂添加剂和食品防腐剂。它通过激活 5-羟色胺能系统对慢性轻度应激诱导的抑郁样行为发挥有益作用，并在悬尾试验（TST）中产生急性抗抑郁样效应。本研究旨在探讨信号通路在 FA 急性和口服给药的抗抑郁样作用中的可能参与，在 TST 中的作用。在 TST 中，预先用 H-89（1μg/部位，脑室内注射，PKA 抑制剂）、KN-62（1μg/部位，脑室内注射，CaMKII 抑制剂）、GF109203X（5ng/部位，脑室内注射，PKC 抑制剂）、U0126（5μg/部位，脑室内注射，MAPK/ERK 抑制剂）或 LY294002（10nmol/部位，脑室内注射，PI3K 抑制剂）预处理小鼠，可阻止口服给予 FA（0.01mg/kg，p.o.）的抗不动效应。这些结果表明，FA 通过激活与神经可塑性、神经发生和细胞存活相关的信号通路，在 TST 中发挥抗抑郁样作用。
