The study suggests that a brain-liver communication mechanism, involving the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway, may hold significance in perimenopausal depression.
This research used Chaihu-Shugan-San (CSS), a traditional Chinese medicine known to influence both the liver and depression. Fifty perimenopausal depression rat models were created using ovariectomy surgery and chronic unpredictable mild stress procedures. These models were then treated with CSS, or a combination of CSS and Ly294002, an inhibitor of the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway. The study monitored behavioral performances of depression and anxiety, serum concentrations of biochemical indices, estrogen levels, hippocampal serotonin and norepinephrine levels, morphological changes in liver tissues, and the protein and mRNA expressions of PI3K and Akt.
After treatment, there was notable improvement in the animals' behavioural performances, some biochemical indices, and morphological changes in liver tissues. The PI3K/Akt pathways, initially suppressed by the perimenopausal stress procedures, were observed to be upregulated by CSS treatment. This upregulation was, however, curtailed by Ly294002. These findings provide evidence of the substantial role played by the brain-liver communication mechanism, particularly the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway in perimenopausal depression.
