Antidepressant effect of three traditional Chinese medicines in the learned helplessness model.

Plantago asiatica, Scrophularia ningpoensis and Ilex pubescens are among the traditional Chinese medicines which are more frequently prescribed for treating depression-like ailments in the past and present traditional Chinese medical practice. The present work was therefore conducted to evaluate the presumable antidepressant effects of the extracts derived from the three remedies in mice using the learned helplessness model being used for screening for antidepressant compounds in modern medicinal researches. As a result, the petroleum extracts of Plantago asiatica and Ilex pubescens as well as the EtOAc extract of Scrophularia ningpoensis and the petroleum-soluble fraction of the acidic hydrolysate of the water extract of Ilex pubescens (after petroleum extraction) decreased significantly the number of escape failures relative to the control. The finding rationalized the clinical prescription of the herbs for the treatment of depression, and shined a clue for the characterization of the antidepressant phytochemical(s).