The influence of traditional Chinese medicine for tonifying kidney yang on behavioral and neuroendocrinological alterations in BALB/c mice exposed to chronic mild stress

• Main Authors: Shih, Jui-Hu, 施睿琥
• Other Authors: Pao, Li-Heng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/47650870162497305430

碩士 === 國防醫學院 === 藥學研究所 === 99 === According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, depression is a common mental disorder and the 2nd leading contributor to the global burden of disease in 2030. During the last 30 years a huge number of scientific articles have appeared on the subject of relationships between psychiatric disease and neuroendocrinological abnormality. Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis dysfunction have been associated with pathophysiology of major depression；In traditional Chinese medicine researches, many of our traditional Chinese medicine for nourishing the kidney and reinforcing yang also have been demonstrated that they can regulate the function of the neuroendocrine system in animal studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to estimate the influence of traditional Chinese medicine for tonifying kidney yang (Buguzhi、Suoyang、Tusizi、Duzhong and Buguzhi) on behavioral and neuroendocrinological (HPT and HPA axis) alterations in BALB/c mice exposed to chronic mild stress (CMS). Furthermore, we evaluated neuron proliferation by BrdU immunohistocehemistry. In addition, in order to simultaneously monitor and quantify concentrations of corticosterone, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) by UPLC tandem mass, a fast and reliable analytical method was developed and well validated. Besides, this study improved the inter-rater variations of counting immobility times in forced swimming test (FST) by image analysis via Matlab software. The results of the in vivo study showed that although the five kinds of Chinese medicine for tonifying kidney yang did not affect behavioral alteration and neuroendocrinological system significantly, but in the BrdU immunohistochemical staining Tusizi (Dodder Seed) could really improve the proliferation of hippocampal neuron. Therefore, whether Tusizi can be used as an antidepressant or not, further studies are still needed to confirm it.