Transcriptomic Profiling of the Gene Networks Reveals the Roles of BDNF and RragA in the Anti-Depressive and Analgesic Activities of Chinese Medicine Puerarin

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is recently recognized as a major healthcare issue, affecting 13-20% of the global population. Over 75% of depression patients may concomitantly suffer from pain due to a variety of pathological causes. Pain and depression mutually aggravate the sub-thresholds for painful and depressive symptoms, provoking suicide and violence. Project Objectives: 1) To characterize the antidepressant and analgesic activities of puerarin in mouse models of depression and pain; 2) To discover the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant and analgesic effects of puerarin. Methods: Puerarin was treated in spared nerve injury (SNI) model, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) model and ras related GTP binding A (RragA) transgenic mice model by oral gavage. Forced swim test and tail suspension test were used to assess the depressive behaviors. Von Frey monofilament assay was used to evaluate the pain responses. Western blotting, Immunostaining analyses, qPCR and next generation RNA sequencing were used to discover the molecular mechanisms underlying the antidepressant and analgesic effects of puerarin. Results: Puerarin showed the antidepressant and analgesic activities in the animal models of depression and pain by activating BDNF. Puerarin exhibited antidepressive activities