Serotonergic and dopaminergic systems are implicated in antidepressant-like effects of chotosan,a Kampo formula,in mice

We previously demonstrated that chotosan (cts),a traditional herbal formula called kampo medicine,improves diabetes-induced cognitive deficits. in the present study,we investigated the antidepressant-like effects of cts in mice. the administration of cts (1.0 g/kg,for 3 days) decreased the immobility time in the forced-swim test,and this decrease was prevented by the prior administration of sulpiride (an antagonist of d2/3 receptors) and way100635 (an antagonist of 5-ht1a receptors). none of the treatments tested altered the locomotor activity of mice. these results suggest that cts exerts antidepressant-like effects through changes in the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems. © 2017 the authors