Wei Shan-Shan, Yang He-Jin, Huang Jia-Wen, Lu Xue-Ping, Peng Ling-Fang, Wang Qing-Guo
School of Basic Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
Department of Drug Screening, Yunnan Institute of Materia Medica, Kunming 650111, China.
Chin J Nat Med. 2016 Aug;14(8):590-8. doi: 10.1016/S1875-5364(16)30069-3.
Sini Powder (SP), a traditional Chinese herbal formula, has long been used to treat depression in patients, although the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we found that rats treated with SP extract for 7 days showed a significant increase in swimming time and reduction in immobility time in forced swimming test in a dose-dependent manner, without changes in locomotion. These effects could be attributed to SP's modulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, because a single pretreatment of SP extract could rescue increased serum corticosterone and plasma adrenocorticotropin levels induced by acute elevated platform stress. A single pretreatment of SP extract could also elevate the mRNA expression of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors. In conclusion, our results suggest that SP extract may act as an anti-stress medication to produce antidepressant-like effects.
四逆散（SP）是一种传统中药配方，长期以来一直用于治疗患者的抑郁症，但其潜在机制仍有待阐明。在本研究中，我们发现用SP提取物处理7天的大鼠在强迫游泳试验中游泳时间显著增加，不动时间减少，且呈剂量依赖性，而运动能力无变化。这些作用可能归因于SP对下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的调节，因为单次预处理SP提取物可以挽救急性高架平台应激诱导的血清皮质酮和血浆促肾上腺皮质激素水平的升高。单次预处理SP提取物还可以提高海马糖皮质激素受体的mRNA表达。总之，我们的结果表明，SP提取物可能作为一种抗应激药物产生抗抑郁样作用。
