2,3,5,4′-Tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-β-d-glucoside Restores BDNF-TrkB and FGF2-Akt Signaling Axis to Attenuate Stress-induced Depression

Abstract Depression is a long term inhibitory mood that heavily disabled human beings. We have previously demonstrated anti-depression effect of 2,3,5,4′-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-β- d -glucoside (THSG) in chronic-restraint stress (CRS) induced depressive-like mice by restoring the oxidative pathway and neuroinflammation. In this study, we examine the conditions of neurotrophins in CRS-induced depressive-like mice and whether THSG could be an antidepressant by ameliorating the neurotrophins and their associated signaling axis. CRS produced downregulation of antioxidants, the decline of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and associated signaling regulators in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, corresponding to the behavioral inability and anhedonia. Administration of THSG restored the expression of antioxidants and neurotrophins BDNF, FGF2. Besides, THSG recovered the Akt signaling pathway and antagonistically restored the expression of Bcl-2 and cleaved-caspase-3 to inhibit apoptosis. Consistently, behavioral performances were recovered from CRS-induced motor inability and anhedonia. In summary, THSG is effective to attenuate stress-induced depression by ameliorating the biochemistry of neurotrophins and their related signaling pathways. These results may provide an avenue to take BDNF as a target to explore folk medicine for anti-depression.