Antidepressant-like effect of Fuzi total alkaloid on ovariectomized mice

Recent studies in vivo and vitro have shown that fuzi polysaccharide has an antidepressant-like effect. polysaccharide and total alkaloid are the two most important components of fuzi. however,little is known about the antidepressant-like effect of fuzi total alkaloid. to investigate the antidepressant-like effect of fuzi total alkaloid,behavioral studies were performed in the open field test and forced swimming test. repeated intragastric administration of fuzi total alkaloid for 7 days (10 mg/kg) to normal mice decreased immobility time compared to the vehicle group. furthermore,repeated administration of fuzi total alkaloid (10 or 30 mg/kg) to ovariectomized mice also decreased immobility time in a dose-dependent manner. however,these antidepressant-like behavioral effects were not simply due to locomotor hyperactivity. further experiments showed that fuzi total alkaloid enhanced the ratio of phospho-creb/creb (camp response element-binding) and bdnf (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) protein level in the frontal cortex and hippocampus in ovariectomized mice but not in normal mice. these results indicate that the creb-bdnf pathway may be involved in the antidepressant-like effect of fuzi total alkaloid in ovariectomized mice. © the japanese pharmacological society.