Anti-depressive effectiveness of baicalin in vitro and in vivo

The objective of this 2019 study was to confirm the antidepressant-like effects of baicalin on mice induced with chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). Another aim was to determine the pharmacological mechanisms involved. After mice underwent chronic unpredictable mild stress to induced depression, several behavioral tests were performed. Certain cells (PC12) were pretreated with baicalin for 2 hours, before being stimulated with corticosterone for 24 hours. Following CUMS treatment, the mice demonstrated depressive-like symptoms such as decreased sucrose consumption, and increased immobility time in the tail suspension test (TST) and forced swim test (FST). The baicalin significantly reduced these changes. Moreover, the herbal treatment inhibited inflammatory cytokine levels in the blood, hippocampus homogenate and cell culture medium. This present study backed up the evidence on biacalin’s antidepressant effects on depression and may have identified a possible pathway involved (the HMGB1/TLR4/NF-κB pathways). [NPID: mice, animal, rodent, baicalin, Scutellaria radix, stress, depression, antidepressant, herbal, herbs, alternative, medicine]

Year: 2019

Reference: Liu, L., Dong, Y., Shan, X., Li, L., Xia, B., & Wang, H. (2019). Anti-Depressive Effectiveness of Baicalin In Vitro and In Vivo. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 24(2), 326.