Meranzin hydrate elicits antidepressant effects and restores reward circuitry

  • Behav Brain Res. 2021 Feb 1:398:112898. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112898.
XiangFei Liu  1 ,  JiaLing Zhou  2 ,  Tian Zhang  3 ,  Ken Chen  4 ,  Min Xu  5 ,  Lei Wu  6 ,  Jin Liu  7 ,  YunKe Huang  8 ,  BinBin Nie  9 ,  Xu Shen  10 ,  Ping Ren  11 ,  Xi Huang  12
Affiliations
  • 1. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 3. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 4. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 5. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 6. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 7. Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiamen University, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 8. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China; Master Degree Candidate at Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Fudan University Medical School, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 9. Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analytical Techniques, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 10. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, School of Medicine and Life Sciences, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 11. Department of Geriatrics, Jiangsu Province Hospital of TCM, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 12. State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, Institute of TCM-Related Comorbid Depression, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 32905810 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112898
Abstract

The burden of depression is enormous, and numerous studies have found that major depressive disorder (MDD) induces cardiovascular disorders (CVD) and functional dyspepsia (FD). Excitingly, meranzin hydrate (MH), an absorbed bioactive compound of Aurantii Fructus Immaturus, reverses psychosocial stress-induced mood disorders, gastrointestinal dysfunction and cardiac disease. Pharmacological methods have repeatedly failed in antidepressant development over the past few decades, but repairing aberrant neural circuits might be a reasonable strategy. This article aimed to explore antidepressant-like effects and potential mechanisms of MH in a rat model of unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS). Utilizing blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we sought to find reliable neurocircuits or a dominant brain region revealing the multiple effects of MH. The results show that compared with UCMS rats, MH (10 mg/kg/day for 1 week i.g.)-treated rats exhibited decreased depression-like behaviour; increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus; and normalized levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), corticosterone (CORT), and acylated ghrelin (AG). Additionally, the UCMS-induced rise in BOLD activation in the reward system was attenuated after MH treatment. A literature search shown that nucleus accumbens (NAc) and hypothalamus of the reward system might reveal multiple effects of MH on MDD-FD-CVD comorbidity. Further research will focus on the role of these two brain regions in treating depression associated with comorbidities.

Keywords
Comorbidity; MH; Reward system; UCMS; fMRI-BOLD.
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