Berberine up-regulates the BDNF expression in hippocampus and attenuates corticosterone-induced depressive-like behavior in mice.

Depression is increasingly become a global public healthy problem. This study was to investigate whether berberine could attenuate the depressive-like behavior induced by repeated corticosterone injection and explore the possible mechanisms. The present results showed that exogenous corticosterone injection caused depressive-like behaviors in mice, such as decreased sucrose intake in sucrose preference test (SPT) and increased immobility time in forced swimming test (FST). These behavioral alterations were accompanying with the decreased BDNF mRNA and protein levels in hippocampus and the elevated serum corticosterone levels. Treatment with berberine prevented these changes above. Our findings confirmed the antidepressant-like effect of berberine and suggested its mechanisms might be partially mediated by up-regulation of BDNF in hippocampus.