Ferulic acid chronic treatment exerts antidepressant-like effect: role of antioxidant defense system

Abstract

Oxidative stress has been claimed a place in pathophysiology of depression; however, the details of the neurobiology of this condition remains incompletely understood. Recently, treatments employing antioxidants have been thoroughly researched. Ferulic acid (FA) is a phenolic compound with antioxidant and antidepressant-like effects. Herein, we investigated the involvement of the antioxidant activity of chronic oral FA treatment in its antidepressant-like effect using the tail suspension test (TST) and the forced swimming test (FST) in mice. The modulation of antioxidant system in blood, hippocampus and cerebral cortex was assessed after stress induction through TST and FST. Our results show that FA at the dose of 1 mg/kg has antidepressant-like effect without affecting locomotor activity. The stress induced by despair tests was able to decrease significantly the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the blood, catalase (CAT) in the blood and cerebral cortex and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the cerebral cortex. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBA-RS) levels were increased significantly in the cerebral cortex. Furthermore, the results show that FA was capable to increase SOD, CAT and GSH-Px activities and decrease TBA-RS levels in the blood, hippocampus and cerebral cortex. These findings demonstrated that FA treatment in low doses is capable to exert antidepressant-like effect with the involvement of the antioxidant defense system modulation.

The Neuroprotective Effects of Phenolic Acids: Molecular Mechanism of Action

“…improvement of TST and FST scores without affecting locomotor activity; amelioration of SOD, CAT in the blood and cerebral cortex, amelioration of GPx in the cerebral cortex; decrease of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances’ levels in the blood, hippocampus and cerebral cortex in mice [10];…”

Antidepressant‐Like Effect of Ferulic Acid via Promotion of Energy Metabolism Activity

“…In fact, Lenzi et al. has demonstrated that FA exerts antidepressant‐like effects through modulation of the antioxidant defense system . Another recent study has reported that the antidepressant‐like effects of FA observed in epileptic animal model were mediated by its anti‐inflammatory properties .…”

Inhibition of LPS induced neurochemical imbalance and oxidative stress by pigmented and non-pigmented rice bran extracts

“…Studies have stated the protective effect of rice bran phytonutrients, such as beta-carotene, vitamin E and N-acetylcysteine against LPS induced oxidative stress in rats brain (Kheir-Eldin et al, 2001). In vivo studies confirmed that ferulic acid treatment ameliorates the behavioral abnormalities and decreases the antioxidative enzymes activity, and endogenous glutathione level (Lenzi et al, 2015). Studies have shown that treatment with gamma-oryzanol rich rice bran extract to the stressed rat normalizes the expression of oxidative stress-related genes and antioxidant levels (Ismail, Al-Naqeeb, bin Mamat, & Ahmad, 2010).…”