Brazilin Treatment Produces Antidepressant- and Anxiolytic-Like Effects in Mice

Abstract

Increasing evidence shows depression relevant to oxidative stress and inflammation. Anti-inflammatory strategies or antioxidants have led to the development of new antidepressants. Brazilin is a natural product from the Chinese traditional medicine Caesalpinia sappan L., exerting anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-platelet concentration, and anti-cancer effects. While the antidepressant effect of brazilin is largely unknown. In present study, we investigated the effects of brazilin on H 2 O 2-induced oxidative injury in PC12 cells and on depression-and anxiety-like behaviors of chronically mild stressed (CMS)-induced depression mice. It was found that brazilin pre-treatment (both 10 and 20 µM) significantly increased cell viability and decreased cell apoptosis in H 2 O 2-treated PC12 cells. Furthermore, repetitive administration of brazilin to CMS-induced depression mice by intraperitoneal injection (10 mg/kg) made the mice significantly lose their latency of feeding in novelty-suppressed feeding test (NSF), have more the sucrose preference in sucrose preference test (SPT), and more time spent in the central zone without affecting their crossing activity in open field test (OFT). These results suggested that brazilin can play a role in antidepressant and anxiolytic-like behaviors for CMS-induced depression mice probably through inhibiting the oxidative stress. Therefore, brazilin is worth to be further explored for treating depressive and anxiety disorders.

Exogenous Carbon Monoxide Produces Rapid Antidepressant- and Anxiolytic-Like Effects

“…PC12 cells (from Prof. Di Wen, Hebei Medical University) were cultured in the high-glucose Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) at 37°C in a humidified incubator containing 5% of CO 2 . According to our previous study ( Wang et al, 2019 ), for the drug treatment, the cells were seeded onto a 96-well culture plate at 5 × 10 7 cells/well until full confluence (70–80%). After the treatment with CO-RM or saline for 1h, cells were incubated with H 2 O 2 (200 µΜ) for another 24 h in the culture medium.…”

“…The MTS assay was conducted according to the kit’s protocol ( Wang et al, 2019 ). Briefly, PC12 cells (5,000 cells/well) were seeded into 96-well microtiter plates.…”

Antidepressant functions of Jie Yu Chu Fan capsule in promoting hippocampal nerve cell neurogenesis in a mouse model of chronic unpredictable mild stress

“…One of the core symptoms of MDD is anhedonia, which in the CUMS mice, was demonstrated by less sucrose consumption (14,19). Repeated administration of JYCF dramatically increased sucrose consumption and zone crossing times, which are the criteria for recognizing the (20). In the forced swim and tail suspension tests, immobility time was shortened compared with the CUMS group, which indicated that the depression had been alleviated (21).…”

Brazilin prevents against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury through the modulation of Nrf2 via the PKC signaling pathway

“…Previous studies have shown that the majority of the beneficial pharmaceutical effects exerted by brazilin are concerned with its regulation on oxidative stress (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). For example, Wang et al (14) suggested that brazilin exerted antidepressant-and anxiolytic-like effects in mice with chronically mild stress (CMS)-induced depression, probably through inhibiting oxidative stress. Moreover, Jayakumar et al (18) suggested that brazilin could suppress high glucose-induced vascular inflammatory processes partly via inhibiting ROS production.…”

“…Brazilin, a homoisoflavonoid (C 16 H 14 O 5 ; chemical structure shown in Figure 1A), is a natural product of Caesalpinia sappan L. and it has been widely used as a traditional medicine for a long time in history (13). Brazilin has been reported to possess multiple pharmaceutical effects, including its efficacy in treating depressive and anxiety disorders (14), ameliorating oxidative stress-induced photoaging of skin (15), protecting auditory cells against t-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP)-induced cell death (16,17), suppressing high glucose-induced vascular inflammatory processes (18), extending lifespan in C. elegans (19) and so on. These effects are predominantly based on its powerful antioxidant activity, as evidenced by the fact that brazilin has been shown to inhibit antioxidant enzyme gene expression (16,17), lower the accumulation of intracellular ROS (18,19), and increase superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (19).…”