Puerarin alleviates depressive-like behaviors in high-fat diet-induced diabetic mice. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Puerarin alleviates depressive-like behaviors in high-fat diet-induced diabetic mice via modulating hippocampal GLP-1R/BDNF/TrkB signaling.
Nutr Neurosci. 2022 Aug 30:1-14. Epub 2022 Aug 30. PMID: 36039913
Yumin Liu
OBJECTIVE: Depression is one of the most common complications in patients with diabetes. Our previous study demonstrated puerarin, a dietary isoflavone, improved glucose homeostasis andβ-cell regeneration in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced diabetic mice. Here, we aim to evaluate the potential effect of puerarin on diabetes-induced depression.
METHODS: The co-occurrence of diabetes and depression with related biochemical alterations were confirmed in HFD mice and db/db mice, respectively using behavioral analysis, ELISA and western blotting assay. Furthermore, impacts of puerarin on depression-related symptoms and pathological changes were investigated in HFD mice.
RESULTS: The results showed that puerarin effectively alleviated the depression-like behaviors of HFD mice, down-regulated serum levels of corticosterone and IL-1β, while up-regulated the content of 5-hydroxytryptamine. Simultaneously, puerarin increased the number of hippocampal neurons in HFD mice, and suppressed the apoptosis of neurons to protect the hippocampal neuroplasticity. GLP-1R expression in hippocampus of HFD mice was enhanced by puerarin, which subsequently activated AMPK, CREB and BDNF/TrkB signaling to improve neuroplasticity. Importantly, our data indicated that puerarin had an advantage over fluoxetine or metformin in treating diabetes-induced depression.
CONCLUSION: Taken together, puerarin exerts anti-depressant-like effects on HFD diabetic mice, specifically by improving hippocampal neuroplasticity via GLP-1R/BDNF/TrkB signaling. Puerarin as a dietary supplement might be a potential candidate in intervention of diabetes with comorbid depression.