This work investigated the antioxidant and antidepressant-like effects of ethyl acetate extract from Eugenia catharinensis in mice treated with corticosterone (20 mg/Kg). The animals received saline or corticosterone (21 days) and, in the last 7 days, they were treated with the extract (50, 125, 200 or 250 mg/Kg) or vehicle. After 24 h, the mice were submitted to the open field and forced swimming tests, after which the hippocampus and cerebral cortex were removed. Our results showed that the extract decreased the immobility time of mice in the forced swimming test and that the extract was able to reverse the effect caused by corticosterone. Corticosterone pre-treatment generated oxidative stress, altering antioxidant enzymes in the nervous tissue. The extract increased the catalase and superoxide dismutase activities and reversed the effects of corticosterone. In the hippocampus, the extract increased superoxide dismutase activity and reversed the increase in catalase activity elicited by corticosterone. We propose that the effects elicited by the Eugenia catharinensis are dependent on the presence of phenolic compounds (gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, syringic acid, 4-hydroxy methylbenzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, salicylic acid, caffeic acid, vanillic acid, p-coumaric acid, isoquercetin, rutin, ferulic acid, aromadendrin, galangin and apigenin) in this extract, as demonstrated by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS.
Keywords: Depression; Myrtaceae; Oxidative stress; Phenolic compounds.