Previous studies have shown that mice experiencing cerebral ischemia reperfusion (CIR) and stress can serve as a model of post stroke depression (PSD). The present study verified the acute antide-pressant effects of radix puerariae extract (PE) on PSD mice through behavior and gene expression ex-periments. CIR was found to reduce the sucrose consumption and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene expres-sion. PE administration after CIR surgery was observed to significantly enhance the mRNA expression of TH in the hippocampus compared with the PSD group on Day 0 and Day 3 postsurgery. These findings in-dicate that PE contributes to the amelioration of behavior response in PSD mice, which is closely related with the protective effects of catecholamine synthesize against CIR brain damage.
＜正＞Berberine has multiple cerebral bioactivities and has been used for the treatment of cerebral diseases in c...
Yunyun Chen~1 Xueli Wang~1 Hong Xun~2 Dongming Xing~1 Jun Hu~1 Zhuohan Wai~1 Lijun Du~(1*) 1 Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Sciences,Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology,Tsinghua University,Beijing 100084,China 2 Institute of Medicinal Plant,Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences,Peking Union Medical College,Tsinghua University,Beijing 100094,China
Antioxidant activities of the 95% ethanol extract from Caesalpinia sappan heartwood (ECS), pro-tosappanin A, protosappanin B, and brazilein were studied in vitro. The inhibition of the formation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the scavenging of superoxide anions, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radicals were assayed. The experimental results show that all four substances had antioxidant activity in vitro but their capabilities differed for the different indicators. ECS, protosappanin A, and protosappanin B show more inhi-bition of MDA and scavenging of hydrogen peroxide, while brazilein shows more scavenging of hydroxyl radicals. All the samples show little scavenging of superoxide anions.
