Introduction:
Depression is a common psychiatric disorder and about one in five people experience depression during their lifespan. Despite the anti-depressive effects of drug therapy, problems such as non-targeting and dose-resistant lead to more effective approaches. Transcranial Photobiomodulation (TPBM) or transcranial low-level laser (TLLL) therapy is a novel and neuroprotective approach which its therapeutic potential has been experimentally examined for central nervous system disorders such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer disease, and Parkinson disease. In this safe and non-heating approach, the damaged and troubled brain areas are irradiated transcranially by near- infrared (NIR) and red (600-1100 nm) low power (less than 500 mW) diode lasers, lasers, and light emitting diodes. The functional mechanism in this approach is that NIR and red photons are absorbed by photo-receptors such as cytochrome c oxidase (COX) and then a number of biological processes including mitochondrial respiratory chain and ATP synthesis are accelerated and cause modulatory effects on nerve cells activities. The main goals of the current study are to examine the anti-depressive and anti-anxiety effects of NIR TPBM by behavioral tests including open field test (OFT), and elevated plus maze (EPM) test in mice model of depression.
Materials and Methods:
Thirty-three (eight- to ten-week-old) BALB/c male mice were used for all experiments. Mice were obtained from animal lab of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. One week before the experiments began, all animals were housed in standard conditions of dark/light cycle (12h/12h), humidity (40-50%), and temperature (20-23 °C). Then mice were divided into three groups (11 per group): control, stress (sham), and near-infrared treated (NIRT) groups. To induce stress, sham and NIRT mice were trapped in a 50 ml polypropylene cylinder for three continuous weeks (3h/day). NIRT group received simultaneous laser treatment with stress induction, however, laser probe was placed on the skull of sham mice, but irradiation was not done. For TPBM therapy a GaAlAs diode laser (810nm, 10 Hz, 88% duty cycle, and power density of 4.75 J/cm2) was used and irradiation was done on odd days and continued for three weeks (nine treatment sessions in total). At each session of laser therapy, 8 J/cm2 dose of NIR light was delivered to the brain cortex of NIRT mice. At the end of stress procedure, behavioral tests including OFT, and EPM were performed to evaluate the anti-anxiety and anti-depressive effects of TPBM and The underlying variables were calculated: time spent in the center square of the OFT, and both percentage of time spent in the open arms (%OAT), and percentage of open arm entries (%OAE) in the EPM.
Results:
Sham mice which underwent to stressful conditions showed significantly (p<0.001) less tendency to spent time in the center part of the OFT in comparison to control group. Furthermore, %OAT and %OAE were significantly (p<0.001) declined in the sham group. The bad effects of stress procedure declined by TPBM so that NIRT mice indicated a more significant (p<0.01) tendency to spent time in the center square of the OFT. In addition,
%OAT (p<0.0001) and %OAE (p<0.001) significantly increased in NIRT group.
Conclusion:
In this study, OFT and EPM were performed to examine the anti-depressive and anti-anxiety effects of TPBM, respectively. Our results indicated that TPBM decreased depressive-like behaviors and NIRT mice significantly tended to spend more time in the middle part of the OFT. In addition, %OAT and %OAE were significantly improved by TPBM which indicated a reduction in anxiety-like behaviors. As a whole, this study indicates that TPBM is a novel approach to depression improvement which can enhance depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors.
Behavioral disturbances are observed in most patients suffering from diabetes. According to some evidence, pro-inflammatory cytokines have a key role both in diabetes and behavioral disorders, such as anxiety and depression. In this study, the effect of chronic administration of loganin, as a bioflavonoid, was investigated on pro-inflammatory cytokines and depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male Wistar rats. Blood levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Depression- and anxiety-like behaviors were evaluated by forced swimming test (FST), elevated plus maze (EPM), and open field test (OFT), respectively. Body weight was also measured before the interventions and after the experiments in all groups. Our findings show that loganin-treated animals had significantly lower serum concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-α compared with the diabetic group. In the EPM test, loganin treatment significantly increased the percentage of the open arm time and open arm entries. Moreover, loganin treatment significantly decreased the grooming time and restored distance traveled and center crossing in the OFT. However, it decreased immobility time in the FST. Loganin treatment also significantly restored body weight gain and attenuated blood glucose changes in the diabetic rats. These results indicate that loganin possibly alleviates depression- and anxiety-like behaviors associated with diabetes through lowering the blood glucose and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. More research is required to show the exact mechanism of antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of loganin in diabetes.
Behavioral disturbances are observed in most patients suffering from diabetes. According to some evidence, pro-inflammatory cytokines have a key role both in diabetes and behavioral disorders, such as anxiety and depression. In this study, the effect of chronic administration of loganin, as a bioflavonoid, was investigated on pro-inflammatory cytokines and depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male Wistar rats. Blood levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Depression- and anxiety-like behaviors were evaluated by forced swimming test (FST), elevated plus maze (EPM), and open field test (OFT), respectively. Body weight was also measured before the interventions and after the experiments in all groups. Our findings show that loganin-treated animals had significantly lower serum concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-α compared with the diabetic group. In the EPM test, loganin treatment significantly increased the percentage of the open arm time and open arm entries. Moreover, loganin treatment significantly decreased the grooming time and restored distance traveled and center crossing in the OFT. However, it decreased immobility time in the FST. Loganin treatment also significantly restored body weight gain and attenuated blood glucose changes in the diabetic rats. These results indicate that loganin possibly alleviates depression- and anxiety-like behaviors associated with diabetes through lowering the blood glucose and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. More research is required to show the exact mechanism of antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of loganin in diabetes.
Objective(s) Several studies have reported improved response of exercised hearts to myocardial infarction (MI). This study was aimed to evaluate the preventive role of treadmill exercise and diosgenin on cardiac marker enzymes, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), total antioxidant status (TAS), lipids, and electrocardiographic (ECG) patterns in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction (MI) in male Wistar rats. Materials and Methods One hundred Wistar rats were divided into ten groups: Control rats (C), saline (S), L-cremephor (LC), exercise (E), diosgenin dissolved in L-cremephor (15 mg/kg/day) (D), exercise+ diosgenin (E+D), ISO injected (150 mg/kg) (ISO), exercise + ISO (E+ISO), diosgenin + ISO (D+ISO) and exercise+ diosgenin+ ISO (E+D+ISO). At the end of the experiment all animals anesthetized and blood samples were collected for biochemical estimation and also the ECG patterns were recorded. Results Exercise and diosgenin pretreatment significantly decreased the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and TBARS level in ISO injected animals. Exercise and diosgenin pretreatment significantly decreased serum total cholesterol and increased high density lipoprotein (HDL-C). ISO-treated rats showed pathological Q waves along with elevated ST segments. The altered electrocardiograms (ECG) of ISO-treated rats were also restored to near normal by diosgenin and exercise, but exercise and diosgenin had synergistic effects. Conclusion The present investigation demonstrates that combination of diosgenin and exercise exhibited significant protection against ISO induced electrocardiographical and biochemical changes. The cadioprotective mechanism(s) appear to be through changing lipid metabolism.
Abstract Along with altering brain responses to stress, aging may also impair recovery from depression symptoms. In the present study, we investigated depressive-like behaviors in young and aged rats and assayed the levels of microRNA-101 (miR-101), Rac1/RhoA, PSD-95, and GluR1 in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) after stress cessation and after a recovery period. Young (3 months old) and aged (22 months old) male Wistar rats were divided into six groups; Young control (YNG), young rats received chronic stress for four weeks (YNG+CS), young rats received chronic stress for four weeks followed by a 6-week recovery period (YNG+CS+REC), Aged control (AGED), aged rats received chronic stress for four weeks (AGED+CS), and aged rats received chronic stress for four weeks followed by a 6-week recovery period (AGED+CS+REC). Stress-induced depression, evaluated by the sucrose preference test (SPT) and forced swimming test (FST), was yet observed after the recovery period in aged but not in young rats, which were accompanied by unchanged levels of miR-101, Rac1/RhoA, GluR1, and PSD-95 in the PFC of aged rats. These data suggested that impaired synaptic plasticity of glutamatergic synapses via the miR-101/Rac1/RhoA pathway may contribute to the delayed behavioral recovery after stress exposure observed in aging animals.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of intrahippocampal injection of vitamin C and progesterone, alone or in combination, on passive avoidance learning (PAL) in multiple sclerosis.Sixty- three male wistar rats were divided into nine groups (n=7) as following: control (saline), lesion, vitamin C (0.2, 1, 5 mg/kg), progesterone (0.01, 0.1, 1 µg/µl) and combination therapy. Lesion was induced by intrahippocampal injection of ethidium bromide. In combination therapy, animals were treated with vitamin C (5 mg/kg) plus progesterone (0.01 mg/kg). Animals in experimental groups received different treatments for 7 days, and then all groups were tested for step through latency (STL).Our results showed that intrahippocampal injection of ethidium bromide destroys PAL significantly (p<0.001). Treatment with vitamin C (5mg/kg) significantly (p<0.05) improved PAL. Lower doses of progesterone did not affect latency but dose of 1 µg/µl significantly (p<0.05) increased STL. In combination therapy group STL was significantly (p<0.05) more than in the lesion group, although it was not significantly different from the vitamin C group.Based on our results, we concluded that intrahippocampal injection of vitamin C improves memory for PAL, but progesterone alone or in combination with vitamin C had no improving effects on memory.
Due to key role of inflammation in pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), aim of this study was evaluating the influance of regular swimming on serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interlukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in high-fat diet-induced diabetic rats. Fourty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, diabetic, exercise and diabetic-exercise groups (n = 10). Diabetes was induced by high-fat diet and streptozotocin (35 mg/kg, i.p.). In exercise groups, after induction of diabetes, animals were subjected to swimming (60 min/5 days a week) for 10 weeks. At the end of training, rats were anestatized and blood samples and pancreatic tissues were collected and used for evaluation of CRP, IL-6, TNF-α and pancreatic histopatholology. Our results showed significantly increase in lymphocytes, monocytes and decrease in neutrophils in diabetic rats (p < 0.01), which these parameters significantly reversed to control levels by induction of swimming (p < 0.01). In diabetic group, the levels of CRP, IL-6 and TNF-α increased (p < 0.01), and swimming decreased these factors significantly. Histopathological results of this study also showed that swimming can prevent damage induced by diabetes. The present study indicates that swim training is associated with improved inflammation and inflammatory mediators and pancreatic damage.
Background: Excessive apoptosis of the pancreatic beta-cell has been associated with type 2 diabetes. Hyperglycemia significantly stimulates pancreatic islet cell apoptosis. We evaluated the role of crocin and voluntary exercise on apoptosis of pancreas tissue in type2 diabetic rats. Methods: Animals divided into 5 groups as: control (Con), diabetes (Dia), diabetic-crocin (Dia-Cro), diabetic-voluntary exercise (Dia-Exe), diabetic-crocin-voluntary exercise (Dia-Cro-Exe). Type 2 diabetes was induced by high-fat diet (4 weeks) and injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (i.p, 35 mg/kg). Animals received crocin orally (50 mg/kg), voluntary exercise performed alone or together for 8 weeks. At the final of study, blood glucose levels and HbA1c were detected. Also p53 protein levels of pancreas tissue were measured by ELISA. Results: P53 levels in pancreas tissue of diabetic group were significantly higher than control group. Crocin and exercise significantly decreased the blood glucose, HbA1c levels and p53 expression in treated diabetic groups compared to diabetic group. The glucose, HbA1c and p53 levels were also significantly lower in crocin-voluntary exercise group in comparison to the other experimental groups. Conclusion: Our results reveal that both crocin and voluntary exercise reduce apoptosis of pancreas through reduction of p53 levels. Moreover, treatments with crocin and voluntary exercise have synergistic anti-apoptotic effects on pancreas tissue of type 2 diabetic rats. Protective effects of these interventions probably perform through the decreasing of glucose and HbA1c levels in blood of rats suffering from diabetes.