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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1554866
Qifuyin Alleviates Anxiety and Depression in 3×Tg-AD Mice by Modulating Neuroendocrine Function
Provisionally accepted- Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China
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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is frequently accompanied by behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Studies have shown that 3×Tg-AD mice, a classical animal model of AD, exhibit anxiety and depression-like behaviors characteristic of BPSD.Objective: This study investigated the effects of Qifuyin on anxiety and depression-like behaviours in 3×Tg-AD mice.Methods: The 20 male and female C57BL/6 mice at 10.3 months of age were used as the control group, while the 82 male and female 3×Tg-AD mice of the same age were divided into five groups.The control and model groups were gavaged with solvent, the positive medicine group received a combination of donepezil and memantine, and the Qifuyin (QFY) groups were divided into three doses: low, medium, and high. The effects of QFY on anxiety-like behaviors in mice were assessed using the open field test (OFT) and elevated plus maze (EPM) test, while depression-like behaviors were evaluated through the forced swim test (FST) and sucrose splash test (ST). Plasma levels of corticosterone (CORT), testosterone (T), and estradiol (E2) were measured using ELISA, while adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) were quantified via radioimmunoassay. Differences in plasma hormone levels among groups were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA). Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationships between plasma hormones and behavioral phenotypes, and multiple linear regression was employed to identify the hormones most strongly correlated with anxiety and depression-like behaviors in mice following QFY treatment.Results: In 3×Tg-AD mice, anxiety-like behaviors were characterized by reduced the duration, number of visits, and total distances in central area during the OFT. The EPM revealed reduced the duration and frequency in the open arms for both sexes. Depression-like behaviors were evident in
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease1, anxiety2, depression3, neuroendocrine4, Traditional Chinese medicine prescription, Qifuyin
Received: 03 Jan 2025; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Yu, Zhao, Li, Lu, Li, Peng, Wang, Wei and Cheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaorui Cheng, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.