Background:Psychocardiological researches have suggested a central role of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) on psychocardiological mechanism. This study aimed to further explore the central role of 5-HT and pretreatment effects of XinLingWan on rats with myocardial infarction (MI) and/or depression.

Methods:Ninety Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: MI group, depression group, and MI + depression group (n = 30 in each group). Each group was then divided into three subgroups (n = 10 in each subgroup): a negative control subgroup (NCS), a Western medicine subgroup (WMS), and a traditional Chinese medicine subgroup (TCMS), which were received pretreatment once a day for 4 weeks by saline, 20 mg/kg sertraline mixed with 2 ml saline, and 40 mg/kg XingLingWan mixed with 2 ml saline, respectively. Different rat models were established after different pretreatments. Rats were then sacrificed for detection of serum 5-HT, platelet 5-HT, 5-HTreceptors (5-HTR), and serotonin transporter (SERT). Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least-significant difference (LSD) testing.

Results:MI group: compared with NCS, there was a significant increase in WMS and TCMS of serum 5-HT (176.15 ± 11.32 pg/ml vs. 334.50 ± 29.09 pg/ml and 474.04 ± 10.86 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000), platelet 5-HT (129.74 ± 27.17 pg/ml vs. 322.24 ± 11.60 pg/ml and 340.4 5 ± 17.99 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000); depression group: compared with NCS, there was a significant increase in WMS and TCMS of serum 5-HT (194.69 ± 5.09 pg/ml vs. 326.21 ± 39.98 pg/ml and 456.33 ± 23.12 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000), platelet 5-HT (175.15 ± 4.07 pg/ml vs. 204.56 ± 18.59 pg/ml and 252.03 ± 22.26 pg/ml, respectively, P = 0.004 and P = 0.000, respectively); MI + depression group: compared with NCS, there was a significant increase in both WMS and TCMS of serum 5-HT (182.50 ± 10.23 pg/ml vs. 372.55 ± 52.23 pg/ml and 441.76 ± 23.38 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000) and platelet 5-HT (180.83 ± 11.08 pg/ml vs. 221.12 ± 22.23 pg/ml and 265.37 ± 29.49 pg/ml, respectively, P = 0.011 and P = 0.000, respectively).

Conclusions:By elevating the amount of 5-HT and modulating 5-HTR and SERT levels in serum and platelets, XinLingWan and sertraline were found to exert pretreatment effect on rat models of MI and/or depression.