{"title":"Antidepressant mechanism of Xiaoyaosan: A perspective from energy metabolism of the brain and intestine.","authors":"Meng-Ting Xiao, Sen-Yan Wang, Xiao-Ling Wu, Zi-Yu Zhao, Hui-Min Wang, Hui-Min Liu, Xue-Mei Qin, Xiao-Jie Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.joim.2025.07.009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study investigated the antidepression mechanisms of Xiaoyaosan (XYS), a classic Chinese prescription, from the perspective of energy metabolism in the brain and intestinal tissues.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Chronic unpredictable mild stress model-a classic depression rat model-was established. Effects of XYS on behaviors and gastrointestinal motility of depressed rats were investigated. Effects of XYS on energetic charge (EC), adenosine triphosphate-related enzymes, and key enzymes of energy metabolism in both hippocampus and jejunum tissues of depressed rats were investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography, biochemical analysis, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to construct a correlation network of \"behavior-brain energy metabolism-intestinal energy metabolism\" of depression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>XYS significantly reduced the abnormal behaviors that observed in depressed rats and increased the EC and the activity of Na<sup>+</sup>-K<sup>+</sup>-ATPase and Ca<sup>2+</sup>-Mg<sup>2+</sup>-ATPase in hippocampus and jejunum tissues of depressed rats. XYS restored the key energetic pathways that had been interrupted by depression, including glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation. Furthermore, XYS exhibited antidepressive effects in terms of regulating energy metabolism in tissues of both brain and intestine.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>XYS significantly corrected the disturbances in EC and energy metabolism-related enzymes of both brain and intestinal tissues, alleviating both core and concomitant symptoms of depression. The current findings underscore the role of energy metabolism in the antidepressive activity of XYS, providing a fresh perspective on depression, and novel research strategies for revealing the mechanism of actions of traditional Chinese medicines on multi-site and multi-symptom diseases. Please cite this article as: Xiao MT, Wang SY, Wu XL, Zhao ZY, Wang HM, Liu HM, Qin XM, Liu XJ. Antidepressant mechanism of Xiaoyaosan: A perspective from energy metabolism of the brain and intestine. J Integr Med. 2025; Epub ahead of print.</p>","PeriodicalId":48599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Medicine-Jim","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Integrative Medicine-Jim","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joim.2025.07.009","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: This study investigated the antidepression mechanisms of Xiaoyaosan (XYS), a classic Chinese prescription, from the perspective of energy metabolism in the brain and intestinal tissues.
Methods: Chronic unpredictable mild stress model-a classic depression rat model-was established. Effects of XYS on behaviors and gastrointestinal motility of depressed rats were investigated. Effects of XYS on energetic charge (EC), adenosine triphosphate-related enzymes, and key enzymes of energy metabolism in both hippocampus and jejunum tissues of depressed rats were investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography, biochemical analysis, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to construct a correlation network of "behavior-brain energy metabolism-intestinal energy metabolism" of depression.
Results: XYS significantly reduced the abnormal behaviors that observed in depressed rats and increased the EC and the activity of Na+-K+-ATPase and Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase in hippocampus and jejunum tissues of depressed rats. XYS restored the key energetic pathways that had been interrupted by depression, including glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation. Furthermore, XYS exhibited antidepressive effects in terms of regulating energy metabolism in tissues of both brain and intestine.
Conclusion: XYS significantly corrected the disturbances in EC and energy metabolism-related enzymes of both brain and intestinal tissues, alleviating both core and concomitant symptoms of depression. The current findings underscore the role of energy metabolism in the antidepressive activity of XYS, providing a fresh perspective on depression, and novel research strategies for revealing the mechanism of actions of traditional Chinese medicines on multi-site and multi-symptom diseases. Please cite this article as: Xiao MT, Wang SY, Wu XL, Zhao ZY, Wang HM, Liu HM, Qin XM, Liu XJ. Antidepressant mechanism of Xiaoyaosan: A perspective from energy metabolism of the brain and intestine. J Integr Med. 2025; Epub ahead of print.
期刊介绍：
The predecessor of JIM is the Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine (Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Xue Bao). With this new, English-language publication, we are committed to make JIM an international platform for publishing high-quality papers on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and an open forum in which the different professions and international scholarly communities can exchange views, share research and their clinical experience, discuss CAM education, and confer about issues and problems in our various disciplines and in CAM as a whole in order to promote integrative medicine.
JIM is indexed/abstracted in: MEDLINE/PubMed, ScienceDirect, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Embase, Chemical Abstracts (CA), CAB Abstracts, EBSCO, WPRIM, JST China, Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD), and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
JIM Editorial Office uses ThomsonReuters ScholarOne Manuscripts as submitting and review system (submission link: http://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/jcim-en).
JIM is published bimonthly. Manuscripts submitted to JIM should be written in English. Article types include but are not limited to randomized controlled and pragmatic trials, translational and patient-centered effectiveness outcome studies, case series and reports, clinical trial protocols, preclinical and basic science studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, papers on methodology and CAM history or education, conference proceedings, editorials, commentaries, short communications, book reviews, and letters to the editor.
Our purpose is to publish a prestigious international journal for studies in integrative medicine. To achieve this aim, we seek to publish high-quality papers on any aspects of integrative medicine, such as acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda medicine, herbal medicine, homeopathy, nutrition, chiropractic, mind-body medicine, taichi, qigong, meditation, and any other modalities of CAM; our commitment to international scope ensures that research and progress from all regions of the world are widely covered. These ensure that articles published in JIM have the maximum exposure to the international scholarly community.
JIM can help its authors let their papers reach the widest possible range of readers, and let all those who share an interest in their research field be concerned with their study.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
