Transcriptomic Profile of the Anti-Depressant Effects of Gastrodia elata Bl.
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
TeYu Chen, Eric
Abstract
Depression has been a serious issue, as the annual worldwide reported cases of depression have been constantly increasing, according to the statistics published by WHO. In fact, WHO predicts that it will be the leading psychological disease by year 2020. However, antidepressants generally demonstrate serious side-effects, such as anxiety disorders, gastrointestinal problems, and sexual dysfunction in patients; therefore, it is important to find an effective way to prevent the occurrence of depression. In this research, Gastrodia eleta Bl., an Oriental herb that has been shown to demonstrate anti-depression effects, was investigated in the form of water extraction. In the present study, the water extract of Gastrodia eleta Bl. (WGE) was orally administered to Sprague-Dawley rats at the dose of 0.5 g/kg BW each day for 21 consecutive days. Forced swimming test (FST) was performed to induce depression in the rodent model, and results showed that the WGE group demonstrated shorter immobile time compared to the negative control group, indicating that FST has successfully induced depression-like behaviours in these rats. Total mRNA samples were then obtained from the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, after having sacrificed the rats after 21 days. In order to deduce a possible anti-depression pathway at the genomic level, cDNA microarray was performed to generate gene expression profiles of depression relevant brain regions: cortex, hippocampus, and striatum. To confirm the findings, real-time polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) analysis of several neuroplasticity-related, differentially expressed genes, was performed. The microarray data showed that WGE altered axongenesis/neurogenesis, nervous system development, and dopamine secretion pathways in cortex and hippocampus, from the evidence that they yield the lowest p-values from all other pathway matches with the KEGG database. However, there were no depression-related pathways shown in the results of the microarray data for the striatum. QRT-PCR results validated that genes involved in neurogenesis, such as Map1b, RhoA, profilin-1, and CRMP2 were significantly altered (p < 0.05) in the cortex and hippocampus. Therefore, neuroplasticity might be the mechanism that WGE takes. The neuroplasticity effects of WGE in the rodent model of antidepressant action strengthen the case for further testing the results in the same context using other tools, and can serve as the basis of future antidepressant drugs, especially in the area of WGE demonstrating anti-depressant effects in the aspect of genomics.
Subjects
depression
forced swimming test
Gastrodia elata Bl.
microarray analysis
neuroplasticity
Type
thesis
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