Depression causes mental and physical changes which affect quality of life. It is estimated to become the second most prevalent disease, but despite its commonness, the pathophysiology of depression remains unclear and medicine is not sufficiently protective. p-Coumaric acid (p-CA) is a dietary phenolic acid which has been proven to have antifungal, anti-HIV, anti-melanogenic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Considering these effects, we investigated whether p-CA can prevent depressive symptoms by reducing inflammatory cytokines in animals injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Changes in despair-related behaviors, inflammatory cytokines, neurotrophic factors and synaptic activity were measured. In these animals, p-CA improved despair-related behavioral symptoms induced by LPS in the forced swim test (FST), tail suspension test (TST) and sucrose splash test (SST). p-CA also prevented the increase of inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus such as cycloxigenase-2 and tumor necrosis factor-α due to LPS. Similarly, it prevented the reduction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) by LPS. Electrophysiologically, p-CA blocked the reduction of long-term depression in LPS-treated organotypic tissue slices. In conclusion, p-CA prevented LPS-induced depressive symptoms in animals, as determined by behavioral, biochemical and electrophysiological measures. These findings suggest the potential use of p-CA as a preventive and therapeutic medicine for depression.

中文翻译：

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对香豆酸对LPS诱导的大鼠抑郁和炎症变化的抗抑郁样作用。

抑郁症会导致身心变化，从而影响生活质量。据估计，它已成为第二流行的疾病，但是尽管很常见，抑郁症的病理生理学仍然不清楚，而且药物的保护作用还不够。对香豆酸（p-CA）是一种膳食酚酸，已被证明具有抗真菌，抗艾滋病毒，抗黑色素生成，抗氧化剂和抗炎作用。考虑到这些影响，我们调查了p-CA是否可以通过减少注射脂多糖（LPS）的动物体内的炎性细胞因子来预防抑郁症状。测量了与绝望相关的行为，炎性细胞因子，神经营养因子和突触活性的变化。在这些动物中，p-CA可改善LPS在强迫游泳测试（FST）中诱发的绝望相关行为症状，尾部悬浮测试（TST）和蔗糖飞溅测试（SST）。p-CA还可以防止LPS引起的海马炎症细胞因子（如环氧合酶2和肿瘤坏死因子-α）的增加。同样，它可以防止LPS减少脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）。电生理学上，p-CA阻止了LPS治疗的器官型组织切片中长期抑郁的减轻。总之，通过行为，生化和电生理学方法可以确定，p-CA可预防LPS引起的动物抑郁症状。这些发现暗示了p-CA作为抑郁症的预防和治疗药物的潜在用途。它可以防止LPS减少脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）。电生理学上，p-CA阻止了LPS治疗的器官型组织切片中长期抑郁的减轻。总之，通过行为，生化和电生理学方法可以确定，p-CA可预防LPS引起的动物抑郁症状。这些发现暗示了p-CA作为抑郁症的预防和治疗药物的潜在用途。它可以防止LPS减少脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）。电生理学上，p-CA阻止了LPS治疗的器官型组织切片中长期抑郁的减轻。总之，通过行为，生化和电生理学方法可以确定，p-CA可预防LPS引起的动物抑郁症状。这些发现暗示了p-CA作为抑郁症的预防和治疗药物的潜在用途。