Lu Xu, Yang Rong-Rong, Zhang Jin-Lin, Wang Peng, Gong Yu, Hu Wen-Feng, Wu Yue, Gao Min-Hui, Huang Chao
Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Nantong University, #19 Qixiu Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, #20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 2018 Aug;32(4):363-377. doi: 10.1111/fcp.12367. Epub 2018 Apr 23.
Depression is a common psychiatric disorder with heavy economic and social burdens. Searching new agents with better antidepressant-like activities is of great significance for depression therapy. Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), a clinical drug for gallstone treatment, possesses neuroprotective effects in different brain disorders. However, whether it affects depression remains unclear. We addressed this issue by evaluating the effect of TUDCA on depression induced by chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). Results showed that TUDCA treatment at 200 but not 100 mg/kg prevented the 5 weeks of CUS-induced increases in the immobile time of C57BL6/J mice in the experiments of forced swimming test and tail suspension test as well as the CUS-induced decrease in sucrose intake and crossing numbers in the open-field test, and did not enhance the antidepressant-like effect of fluoxetine. Attenuation of neuroinflammation may be involved in the antidepressant-like effect of TUDCA, as TUDCA treatment (200 mg/kg) normalized the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 in both hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The increases in inflammasome and microglial activation markers, including interleukin-β, nod-like receptor protein 3, and Iba-1, in CUS-treated mice were reduced by TUDCA treatment (200 mg/kg). TUDCA treatment (200 mg/kg) also normalized the changes in markers reflecting the oxidative-nitrosative and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induced by CUS, such as nitric oxide, reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde, glucose-regulated protein 78, and C/EBP homologous protein. These results revealed that TUDCA improved the CUS-induced depression-like behaviors likely through attenuation of neuroinflammation, oxido-nitrosative, and ER stress.
抑郁症是一种常见的精神疾病,会带来沉重的经济和社会负担。寻找具有更好抗抑郁样活性的新型药物对抑郁症治疗具有重要意义。牛磺熊去氧胆酸(TUDCA)是一种用于治疗胆结石的临床药物,在不同的脑部疾病中具有神经保护作用。然而,其是否会影响抑郁症尚不清楚。我们通过评估TUDCA对慢性不可预测应激(CUS)诱导的抑郁症的影响来解决这个问题。结果表明,在强迫游泳试验和悬尾试验中,200mg/kg而非100mg/kg的TUDCA治疗可预防CUS诱导的C57BL6/J小鼠不动时间增加5周,以及在旷场试验中CUS诱导的蔗糖摄入量和穿越次数减少,并且不会增强氟西汀的抗抑郁样作用。TUDCA的抗抑郁样作用可能与神经炎症的减轻有关,因为TUDCA治疗(200mg/kg)可使海马体和前额叶皮质中的肿瘤坏死因子-α和白细胞介素-6水平恢复正常。TUDCA治疗(200mg/kg)还可降低CUS处理小鼠中炎性小体和小胶质细胞活化标志物(包括白细胞介素-β、NOD样受体蛋白3和离子钙结合衔接分子1)的增加。TUDCA治疗(200mg/kg)还可使反映CUS诱导的氧化亚硝化和内质网(ER)应激的标志物变化恢复正常,如一氧化氮、还原型谷胱甘肽、丙二醛、葡萄糖调节蛋白78和C/EBP同源蛋白。这些结果表明,TUDCA可能通过减轻神经炎症、氧化亚硝化和ER应激来改善CUS诱导的抑郁样行为。