In Vitro and in Vivo Antioxidant Effects and the Possible Relationship between the Antidepression Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulation Chaihu Shugan San

AimTo investigate the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities of the traditional Chinese prescription Chaihu Shugan San (CSGS), which may help to understand the relationship between the antioxidant properties and the antidepressive effect of CSGS, to further clarify the possible mechanism of its antidepression efficacy.MethodsThe antioxidant activity in vitro was evaluated by employing five antioxidant assays including ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) radicals, ABTS [2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzo-thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt] cation radicals, superoxide anion (O2·-) and hydroxyl free radicals (OH·) scavenging activity assays. Vitamin C (Vc) was used as a positive control. The in vivo study was carried out to investigate the effects of CSGS on mice in restraint stress model by determining glutathione (GSH) contents in blood and malondialdehyde (MDA) values, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities in liver.ResultsCSGS showed a ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP assay) that was equivalent to 0.24 mmol FeSO4 per gram CSGS aqueous extract and certain scavenging activities on free radicals in vitro. The IC50 values of CSGS in scavenging DPPH radicals, ABTS cation radicals, superoxide anion and hydroxyl free radicals were 0.83, 1.03, 10.31 and 7.79 mg(mL−1, respectively. The results of in vivo study showed that the restrained mice with orally administered CSGS had higher SOD and catalase CAT activities, lower malondialdehyde MDA values and higher glutathione GSH levels compared with those of the mice in model group.ConclusionCSGS could inhibit lipid peroxidation, relieve oxidative injury and regulate antioxidant capacity of organisms. The findings suggest that antioxidant activity of CSGS should make contributions to its antidepression effect.