OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of ganoderma spore oil(GSO) on behavior of the mice with chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) and its possible neurophysiology mechanisms. METHODS: Thirteen different kinds of chronic unpredictable mild stress were given to the male BALB/C mice for establishing the mouse model of depression. The mice were treated with GSO at 3 doses (850, 283, 141.5 mg·kg-1·d-1) or vehicle [(oil) or fluoxetine (10 mg·kg-1·d-1)] by oral administration from the 3rd week. After 2 weeks administration, the mice was evaluated by behavioral tests, and the contents of hippocampal glutamate (GLU) and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) were analyzed by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The contents of hippocampal brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were measured by ELISA kit. RESULTS: Compared with model group, GSO increased the body weight, sucrose preference rate and open field test score, shortened the immobility time in the tails suspension test and forced swimming test in the depression mice (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Meanwhile, GSO significantly decreased the contents of GLU (P < 0.01) and increased the contents of BDNF(P<0.01), and the contents of GABA did not changes (P>0.05) in the hippocampus. CONCLUSION: GSO shows obvious anti-depressant effect on depressant model mice. The antidepressant effect of GSO may be related to decreasing GLU contents and increasing BDNF contents.

To study the effects of squalene on behavior and related proteins of glutamate toxicity pathways in the mice with chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), thirteen different kinds of CUMS were applied to the male BALB/C mice for 35 days to establish the mouse model of CUMS depression. The stress conditions include food deprivation, noise, stroboscopic lighting, hot stress (45℃), brake, exposure to lower temperature (4℃), shake, soiled cage, clamp tail, water deprivation, swimming, electric shock, presence of a foreign object in the home cage. The mice were treated with squalene at 3 doses (80, 40 and 20 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) through oral administration from the 3rd week continuously. Three weeks later, the impacts were evaluated in the mice with behavioral tests, and malondialdehyde (MDA) and hippocampal glutamate (GLU) contents, the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in hippocampus were measured by spectropho-tometry or reversed phase HPLC (RP-HPLC). Western blot was used to examine the expression level of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunits epsilon-2 (NMDAε2), calmodulin kinaseⅡ (CaMKⅡ) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS1) in hippocampus. Compared with model group, the squalene-treated mice exhibited an increase in body weight, sucrose preference rate and the times of crossing-movement and rearing-movement, shortened the immobility time in the tails suspension test and forced swimming test in the depression mice (P<0.05). Meanwhile, the treated mice had a significant decrease in the contents of GLU and MDA (P<0.05) in hippocampus, increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and downregulated the expression of NMDAε2, CaMKⅡ and NOS1 in the hippocampus. In conclusion, squalene shows anti-depressant effect on depressant model in mice, meanwhile the downregulated ROS, related proteins of GLU-NMDAε2-CaMKⅡ-NOS1 signal pathways may be related to the antidepressant effect of squalene.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of WR2721(amifostine) against bone marrow hematopoietic damage of mice exposed to 6.5 Gy of (60)Co-γ ray. A total of 60 C57/BL6J mice was divided into 3 groups:normal group (mice were injected with physiological salt solution), irradiation group (mice were injected with physiologic salt solution before irradiation) and WR2721 group (mice were injected with WR2721 before irradiation). The WBC, neutrophil (Neut), Plt and RBC levels in peripheral blood of 3 group mice were counted within 60 days after irradiation; the bone marrow nuclear cells (BMNC) were counted at 2 and 24 hours after irradiation; the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (LK/LSK) level and colony formation capability were detected by flow cytometry at 2 and 24 hours after irradiation. The results indicated that the counts of WBC and neut at 4 and 18 days, Plt at 7-18 days and RBC at 10-30 day after irradiation in WR2721 group were higher than those in irradiation group (P < 0.05); the BMNC, LSK and LK levels obviously increased at 24 hours after irradiation (P < 0.05), the CFU-GEMM, CFU-GM, CFU-MK BFU-E and CFU-E all significantly increased at 2 and 24 hours after irradiation (P < 0.01), as compared with irradiation group. It is concluded that WR2721 can effectively alleviate early hematopoietic damage and promote the fast recovery of peripheral blood cells in mice exposed to γ-ray, suggesting that the WR2721 has significant radioprotective effect on hematopoietic system.
Amifostine ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Blood Cell Count ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; radiation effects ; Gamma Rays ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; radiation effects ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Radiation-Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Whole-Body Irradiation