Study on antidepressant activity of sesquiterpenoids from ginseng root

- SG, the supercritical CO2 extract, can be used for food, such as beverage.
- There were 21 kinds of sesquiterpenoids in SG, accounting for 66.38%.
- SG exhibited antidepressant-like effect.
- The antidepressant effect probably related to DA, GABA and Glu systems.

The antidepressant-like effect of the sesquiterpenoids in Ginseng root was evaluated by using animal models of depression, forced swim test in mice. Our results showed that treatment with the sesquiterpenoids at dose of 1.0 mg/kg significantly decreased immobility time in the forced swimming test. Pretreatment with haloperidol (a non-selective D2 receptor antagonist), bicuculline (a competitive GABA antagonist) and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (an agonist at the glutamate site) effectively reversed the antidepressant-like effect of the sesquiterpenoids (1.0 mg/kg). Moreover, the sesquiterpenoids treatment did not change the locomotor activity. And the sesquiterpenoids (1.0 mg/kg) also effectively increased the DA and GABA levels in mice brains exposed to the FST on the co-treatment groups. In conclusion, the sesquiterpenoids in Ginseng root (1.0 mg/kg) produced significant antidepressant-like effect, which was probably related to the dopaminergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic systems.