Involvement of NMDA-AKT-mTOR Signaling in Rapid Antidepressant-Like Activity of Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli-tang on Olfactory Bulbectomized Mice

Xing Wang; Zhilu Zou; Qinqin Shen; Zhiheng Huang; Jie Chen; Juanjuan Tang; Wenda Xue; Weiwei Tao; Haoxin Wu; Dawei Wang; Gang Chen

doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.01537

Involvement of NMDA-AKT-mTOR Signaling in Rapid Antidepressant-Like Activity of Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli-tang on Olfactory Bulbectomized Mice

Front Pharmacol. 2019 Jan 9:9:1537. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.01537. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Xing Wang^{1

2

3}, Zhilu Zou^{2

3}, Qinqin Shen^{2

3}, Zhiheng Huang⁴, Jie Chen⁵, Juanjuan Tang², Wenda Xue^{2

3}, Weiwei Tao^{2

3}, Haoxin Wu², Dawei Wang¹, Gang Chen^{3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China.
² Center for Translational Systems Biology and Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Integrative Biomedicine for Brain Diseases, College of Basic Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China.
³ Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China.
⁵ Brain Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
⁶ Interdisciplinary Institute for Personalized Medicine in Brain Disorders, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Background: Fast-onset antidepressants are urgently needed. Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli-tang (CLM), a classic Chinese herbal medicine, has been used for antidepressant treatment with long history. Olfactory bulbectomization (OB) model is validated for identification of rapid antidepressant efficacy. Here we used OB model for investigating the rapid onset activity of CLM in mice, and also tested the involvement of prefrontal Akt-mTOR and associated AMPA/NMDA receptors as well as hippocampal BDNF in the rapid antidepressant-like effect of CLM. Methods: The OB model was first characterized with depression-like behaviors and the time course changes of the behaviors. The fast onset of antidepressant effect of CLM was evaluated using sucrose preference test, tail suspension test and forced swim test in OB mice after a single administration. The expression of synaptic proteins of AMPA and NMDA subunits as well as Akt/mTOR signaling in the prefrontal cortex, and hippocampal BDNF was evaluated with the immunoblotting method. Results: A single dose of CLM significantly improved the deficiency in the sucrose preference and decreased the immobility time in the tail suspension test in OB mice. In the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in OB mice, there was lower expression level of the AMPA receptor subunit GluR1, rescued by a single dose of CLM. Additionally, the expression of NMDA subunit NR1 was up-regulated in OB mice, whereas mTOR and its upstream Akt signalings were both down-regulated. These deficiencies were reversed by a single dose of CLM. The CLM treatment also attenuated the expressions of NMDA receptor subunits NR2A and NR2B, which did not change in OB mice. In the hippocampus, expressions of GluR1 and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were both up-regulated in OB mice, although CLM increased GluR1, but not BDNF. Conclusion: CLM elicited rapid antidepressant-like effects in the OB model mice, and CLM reversal of the abnormality in PFC expression of AMPA and NMDA receptors and associated Akt-mTOR signaling may underlie the effects.

Keywords: Akt-mTOR signaling; Chaihu-jia-Longgu-Muli-tang; NMDA receptor; olfactory bulbectomized mice; rapid antidepressant.