Onaolapo AY, Sulaiman H, Olofinnade AT, Onaolapo OJ. Antidepressant-like potential of silymarin and silymarin-sertraline combination in mice: Highlighting effects on behaviour, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. World J Pharmacol 2022; 11(3): 27-47 [DOI: 10.5497/wjp.v11.i3.27]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Olakunle James Onaolapo, MBBS, MSc, PhD, Reader (Associate Professor), Department of Pharmacology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, College of Health Sciences, P.M.B 4000, Ogbomosho 234, Oyo, Nigeria. olakunleonaolapo@yahoo.co.uk
Research Domain of This Article
Behavioral Sciences
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Pharmacol. Nov 28, 2022; 11(3): 27-47 Published online Nov 28, 2022. doi: 10.5497/wjp.v11.i3.27
Antidepressant-like potential of silymarin and silymarin-sertraline combination in mice: Highlighting effects on behaviour, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation
Adejoke Yetunde Onaolapo, Hameed Sulaiman, Anthony Tope Olofinnade, Olakunle James Onaolapo
Adejoke Yetunde Onaolapo, Department of Anatomy, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Oyo State 234, Nigeria
Hameed Sulaiman, Anthony Tope Olofinnade, Olakunle James Onaolapo, Department of Pharmacology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Oyo State 234, Nigeria
Author contributions: Onaolapo AY and Onaolapo OJ conceived and designed the work that led to the submission; Sulaiman H and Olofinnade AT were responsible for the collection and collation of the data; Onaolapo AY and Onaolapo OJ were involved in the analysis of the data, interpretation of the results, and drafting of manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures were conducted in accordance with the approved protocols of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and within the provisions for animal care and use prescribed in the scientific procedures on living animals European Council Directive (EU2010/63).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors of this paper declare that there is no conflict of interest related to the content of this manuscript.
Data sharing statement: The data is presently unavailable in the public domain because the authors do not have permission to share data yet. Data would be made available only on request.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Olakunle James Onaolapo, MBBS, MSc, PhD, Reader (Associate Professor), Department of Pharmacology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, College of Health Sciences, P.M.B 4000, Ogbomosho 234, Oyo, Nigeria. olakunleonaolapo@yahoo.co.uk
Received: April 18, 2022 Peer-review started: April 18, 2022 First decision: May 31, 2022 Revised: June 5, 2022 Accepted: October 19, 2022 Article in press: October 19, 2022 Published online: November 28, 2022 Processing time: 223 Days and 22.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Currently, there is increasing advocacy for the use of diet, dietary supplements, and herbal remedies in depression management.
AIM
To determine the antidepressant effects of standardized silymarin (SILY) extract either as a sole agent or as an adjunct in depression therapy.
METHODS
Adult mice were assigned into three main groups based on the neurobehavioural models; and each main group had ten treatment groups of 10 mice each. Treatment groups were: Vehicle control group, oral sertraline (SERT) group, two groups fed SILY)-supplemented diet (SILY at 140 and 280 mg/kg of feed, respectively), dexamethasone (DEX; i.p.) group, DEX/SERT group, two groups of DEX/SILY (SILY at 140 and 280 mg/kg of feed, respectively), and another two groups of (SERT/DEX/SILY) (SILY at 140 and 280 mg/kg of feed, respectively, plus i.p. DEX plus SERT). Duration of the study was 7 wk, and treatments were administered daily.
RESULTS
SILY (alone) increased body weight, open field locomotor activity, rearing, and grooming; it also enhanced spatial working memory while decreasing anxiety-related behaviours and behavioural despair. SILY also improved antioxidant status while decreasing lipid peroxidation, acetylcholinesterase activity, and inflammatory markers. Neuronal integrity of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus was preserved. Overall, when administered alone or with SERT, SILY counteracted DEX-induced behavioural and biochemical changes while preserving neuromorphological integrity.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, SILY is beneficial in mitigating DEX-induced central nervous system and other related changes in mice.
Core Tip: Depression is a neuropsychiatric disorder that has in recent times become a leading cause of disability and a major contributor to global disease burden and suicide. In recent times there has been increasing advocacy for the use of dietary supplements and herbal remedies in depression management. While antidepressant effects of extracts of silybum marianum seeds have been reported, there is a dearth of scientific information on the possible effect of its standardized silymarin extract either as a sole agent or as an adjunct in depression therapy.
