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Antidepressant-like effect of flaxseed secoisolariciresinol diglycoside in ovariectomized mice subjected to unpredictable chronic stress

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Abstract

Secoisolariciresinoldiglycoside (SDG), a predominant lignan in flaxseed, has antioxidant activity as a dietary supplement. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the antidepressant-like effect and the possible mechanism of flaxseed SDG when the ovariectomized mice were exposed to the unpredictable chronic mild stress procedure. Chronic stress induced the increases in immobility time in mouse model of despair tests, but administration with SDG (80 and 160 mg/kg, p.o.) for 21 days inhibited these behavioral changes caused by stress in both forced swimming and tail suspension tests. These doses that affected the immobile response did not affect locomotor activity. Moreover, the changes in the serum corticosterone and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels were also measured to explore the SDG-associated regulation of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenals (HPA) axis. The results indicated that the chronic stress-induced increases in the serum corticosterone and ACTH were reversed by treatment with high doses of SDG. Chronic treatment with SDG also affected the body weight of mice and IL-6, IL1β levels in the frontal cortex. In addition, chronic stress procedure induced a decrease in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the frontal cortex of mice; while treatment with SDG reversed this reduction of BDNF. All these results provide compelling evidence that the behavioral effects of flaxseed SDG in the ovariectomized mice might be related to their modulating effects on the neuroendocrine-immune network and neurotrophin factor expression.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by President special talent foundation of Xuzhou Medical College (2011KJZ26) to X. Ma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, 221006, People’s Republic of China

    Xing Ma

  2. Program of Pharmacology, Weill Graduate School of Medical Science, Cornell University, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Rui Wang

  3. Department of Pharmacology, Ningbo University, School of Medical Science, Ningbo, Zhejiang province, 315211, People’s Republic of China

    Xin Zhao

  4. Institute of Experimental Neurobiology, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325035, People’s Republic of China

    Xin Zhao, Jiao Sun, Jianxin Li, Lu Zhang, Tuo Shao, Lina Ruan, Liang Chen & Jianchun Pan

  5. Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26505, USA

    Chong Zhang & Ying Xu

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  1. Xing Ma
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Correspondence to Ying Xu or Jianchun Pan.

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Xing Ma, Rui Wang and Xin Zhao contributed equally to this work.

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Ma, X., Wang, R., Zhao, X. et al. Antidepressant-like effect of flaxseed secoisolariciresinol diglycoside in ovariectomized mice subjected to unpredictable chronic stress. Metab Brain Dis 28, 77–84 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-012-9371-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-012-9371-1

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