Antidepressant Effects of Pharmacopuncture on Behavior and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Expression in Chronic Stress Model of Mice.

OBJECTIVES

The present study aimed to investigate the antidepressant effect of the traditional Korean medical pharmacopuncture, Liver Qi Depression (HJ11), in a mouse model of depression induced by exposure to chronic immobilization stress (CIS).

METHODS

Mice were subjected to 2 hours of immobilization stress daily for 14 days. They were also injected with distilled water (DW) (CIS + DW) or HJ11 at the acupoints HT7, SP6, and GV20 (CIS + HJ11) an hour before stress. The positive control group (CIS + paroxetine) was intraperitoneally injected with paroxetine (10 mg/kg, 14 days). The tail suspension test and the forced swimming test were performed to assess depression-like behaviors. Western blotting was also conducted to seek the change in brain.

RESULTS

CIS + DW mice showed significantly longer immobile times in the tail suspension test and forced swimming test than sham mice that did not go through daily restraint. Immobility of CIS + HJ11 and that of CIS + paroxetine mice was significantly decreased compared with immobility of CIS + DW mice. Immunoblotting showed that HJ11 increased the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor both in the hippocampus and the amygdala.

CONCLUSION

HJ11 improves depressive-like behaviors in the stress-induced mouse model of depression, and the results indicate that the neuroprotective effect of HJ11, identified by brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression, may play a critical role in its antidepressant effect.