Abstract:The potential rapid antidepressant effect of β-asarone was investigated in this work. The effect of different administration methods of β-asarone on rapid antidepressant action and their biological mechanism were further evaluated. The 70 male KM mice were randomly divided to model group (n=60) and normal group (n=10). The model group was given chronic unpredictable stimulation, while the normal group was fed normally. After twenty-one days of feed, sucrose preference test was conducted on the model group to select 40 mice, which were successfully depression modeled. These 40 mice randomly were divided into five groups: β-asarone nasal cavity administration, β-asarone intragastric administration, Yueju pill nasal cavity administration, Yueju pill intragastric administration and model control group. Eight mice in the normal group were selected as normal control group. After 30 min of a single drug administration, open field experiment, tail suspension experiment and forced swimming experiment were conducted. Western blot was used to detect the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tyrosine kinase B (TrkB) in hippocampus of KM mice at 45 min post the single administration. The open-field test scores of the β-asarone group were higher than those of the model control group (p<0.05), forced swimming test and tail suspension test (p<0.05). Compared with the model control group, the expression of BDNF and TrkB in hippocampus of mice in the β-asarone group increased significantly after 45 minutes of administration (p<0.05). β-asarone exhibits a rapid antidepressant-like potential effect, and the potential rapid antidepressant effects might be associated with the up-regulation of BDNF and its receptor TrkB.
