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Tetramethylpyrazine ameliorates depression by inhibiting TLR4-NLRP3 inflammasome signal pathway in mice

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Abstract

Depression is a common but serious mental illness; meanwhile, it is also an inflammatory disorder. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), as the pattern recognition receptor, has been shown to play a vital role in neuroinflammation. The nucleotide binding and oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome acts as an important signaling molecule downstream of TLR4 and can promote the maturation of inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) is a natural compound with neuroprotective effects but with unknown mechanisms on its antidepressant-like effect. In this study, we hypothesized that TMP ameliorates depression may be through the inhibition of the TLR4-NF-κB-NLRP3 signal pathway. Our results have shown that chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) that induced the decreased sucrose preference and increased immobile time was prominently reversed by TMP and fluoxetine. Additionally, we also found that CUMS induced the upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines; TLR4 and NLRP3-associated proteins were significantly suppressed by TMP in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. TMP also exhibited potent antioxidant effects and increased the monoamine levels in the serum and brain, such as increasing the activity of SOD and GSH-Px, and reducing the activity of MDA in the serum, and elevating the 5-HT and NE concentration in the serum and brain. Moreover, treatment with Cli-095 (TLR4 inhibitor) also markedly inhibited CUMS-induced depression-like behaviors. Taken together, our findings suggested that TMP exerted a potential antidepressant-like effect in CUMS mice, and the molecular mechanisms may relate to inhibit the TLR4-NF-κB-NLRP3 signaling pathway in the brain.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Priority Academic Program Development of Xinjiang Higher Education Institutions.

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  1. Songnian Fu and Jiangtao Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

    Songnian Fu, Jiangtao Wang & Haihong Dang

  2. Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China

    Chenguang Hao

  3. Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Li Yu Shan South Road, No. 137, Urumqi, 830054, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Sheng Jiang

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  1. Songnian Fu
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Contributions

Author Songnian Fu and Sheng Jiang designed the study and wrote the protocol. Author Songnian Fu and Jiangtao Wang managed the literature searches and analyses. Authors Chenguang Hao and Haihong Dang undertook the statistical analysis, and author Songnian Fu wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sheng Jiang.

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All animal experiments were approved by the Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee (AEEC) of Xinjiang Medical University, which in accordance with the “Guide and Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” (National Institutes of Health).

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Fu, S., Wang, J., Hao, C. et al. Tetramethylpyrazine ameliorates depression by inhibiting TLR4-NLRP3 inflammasome signal pathway in mice. Psychopharmacology 236, 2173–2185 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-05210-6

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