Figure 6.

Post-treatment changes in the expression level of BDNF. We evaluated the expression of BDNF in the hippocampus of mice treated with saline, desipramine (20 mg/kg) or danshensu (5, 10, or 30 mg/kg). Western blotting was performed to measure the level of BDNF expression in mice treated with 10 mg/kg danshensu (A), those pretreated with NBQX (10 mg/kg) or rapamycin (20 mg/kg) (B), and those pretreated with SL327 (30 mg/kg) or MK2206 (60 mg/kg) (C). Treatment with 10 and 30 mg/kg danshensu significantly upregulated the expression of BDNF (A). Densitometric analyses of the blots (normalized to β-actin levels) revealed that the level of BDNF expression (B) was increased in mice treated with danshensu; these increases were blocked by pretreatment with NBQX and rapamycin (B). Furthermore, pretreatment with SL327 and MK2206 prevented the danshensu-induced upregulation of BDNF expression (C). N=4 per group. Between-group comparisons were performed using the nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test, followed by the Conover–Iman post hoc test. Data are presented in terms of the mean±standard error of the mean values. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001. BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor; NBQX, 2,3-dioxo-6-nitro-7-sulfamoyl-benzo(f)quinoxaline.