Open Access

Kai-Xin-San, a traditional Chinese medicine formulation, exerts antidepressive and neuroprotective effects by promoting pCREB upstream pathways

  • Authors:
    • Xian‑Zhe Dong
    • Dong-Xiao Wang
    • Bing‑Ying Yu
    • Ping Liu
    • Yuan Hu
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: October 4, 2016     https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2016.3773
  • Pages: 3308-3314
  • Copyright: © Dong et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Kai-Xin-San (KXS) is a traditional Chinese medicine that has been widely used for the treatment of emotion-related disease. However, the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. The present study aimed to examine whether phospho‑cAMP response element‑binding protein (pCREB) and upstream components, such as extracellular signal‑regulated kinase (ERK), phospho‑ERK (pERK), phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt), glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) and pGSK3β are associated with the antidepressive effect of KXS. In total, 24 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups, including control (n=8, no treatment), induced with chronic unpredictable mild stress (CMS) (n=8), and CMS rats treated with KXS at dosage of 370 mg/kg/day orally. Primary hippocampal neuronal cultures were prepared from Wistar rats for cell survival and proliferation assays. In KXS rats, increased protein expression levels of pCREB, BDNF and tyrosine receptor kinase B (TrkB) were observed in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, compared with the CMS model group. Furthermore, increased expression levels of ERK, pERK, PI3K, Akt, and GSK3β were also detected in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of KXS‑treated rats compared with CMS model rats and in primary hippocampal neuronal cells treated with KXS. These results suggest that pCREB and upstream components, including TrkB/ERK/CREB and TrkB/PI3 K/CREB, may contribute to the antidepressive effect induced by KXS. Further studies are required to confirm these findings.
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November-2016
Volume 12 Issue 5

Print ISSN: 1792-0981
Online ISSN:1792-1015

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Spandidos Publications style
Dong XZ, Wang D, Yu BY, Liu P and Hu Y: Kai-Xin-San, a traditional Chinese medicine formulation, exerts antidepressive and neuroprotective effects by promoting pCREB upstream pathways. Exp Ther Med 12: 3308-3314, 2016
APA
Dong, X., Wang, D., Yu, B., Liu, P., & Hu, Y. (2016). Kai-Xin-San, a traditional Chinese medicine formulation, exerts antidepressive and neuroprotective effects by promoting pCREB upstream pathways. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 12, 3308-3314. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2016.3773
MLA
Dong, X., Wang, D., Yu, B., Liu, P., Hu, Y."Kai-Xin-San, a traditional Chinese medicine formulation, exerts antidepressive and neuroprotective effects by promoting pCREB upstream pathways". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 12.5 (2016): 3308-3314.
Chicago
Dong, X., Wang, D., Yu, B., Liu, P., Hu, Y."Kai-Xin-San, a traditional Chinese medicine formulation, exerts antidepressive and neuroprotective effects by promoting pCREB upstream pathways". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 12, no. 5 (2016): 3308-3314. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2016.3773