Antidepressant-like Effects of p-Coumaric Acid on LPS-induced Depressive and Inflammatory Changes in Rats.
- Author:
Seok LEE
1
;
Hyun Bum KIM
;
Eun Sang HWANG
;
Eun seok KIM
;
Sung Soo KIM
;
Tae Dong JEON
;
Min cheol SONG
;
Ji Seung LEE
;
Min Chan CHUNG
;
Sungho MAENG
;
Ji Ho PARK
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Depression; p-coumaric acid (p-CA); Lipopolysaccharide (LPS); Long-term synaptic depression (LTD); Cytokines
- MeSH: Animals; Behavioral Symptoms; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; Cytokines; Depression; Hindlimb Suspension; Hippocampus; Necrosis; Nerve Growth Factors; Phenol; Quality of Life; Rats*; Sucrose
- From:Experimental Neurobiology 2018;27(3):189-199
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: Depression causes mental and physical changes which affect quality of life. It is estimated to become the second most prevalent disease, but despite its commonness, the pathophysiology of depression remains unclear and medicine is not sufficiently protective. p-Coumaric acid (p-CA) is a dietary phenolic acid which has been proven to have antifungal, anti-HIV, anti-melanogenic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Considering these effects, we investigated whether p-CA can prevent depressive symptoms by reducing inflammatory cytokines in animals injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Changes in despair-related behaviors, inflammatory cytokines, neurotrophic factors and synaptic activity were measured. In these animals, p-CA improved despair-related behavioral symptoms induced by LPS in the forced swim test (FST), tail suspension test (TST) and sucrose splash test (SST). p-CA also prevented the increase of inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus such as cycloxigenase-2 and tumor necrosis factor-α due to LPS. Similarly, it prevented the reduction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) by LPS. Electrophysiologically, p-CA blocked the reduction of long-term depression in LPS-treated organotypic tissue slices. In conclusion, p-CA prevented LPS-induced depressive symptoms in animals, as determined by behavioral, biochemical and electrophysiological measures. These findings suggest the potential use of p-CA as a preventive and therapeutic medicine for depression.
