Figure 1.

Animals were first randomly divided into two groups: saline and GFS (n=40 per group). The rats were pretreated with GFS (20 mg/kg) or with an equivalent volume of saline once daily via oral gavage for a period of 4 weeks. Rats were then equally divided randomly into four subgroups (n=10 per subgroup) and the appropriate surgeries and tests were performed: Sham, MI, Depression, MI + Depression. After 3 days, animals were sacrificed and 5-HT levels measured in the serum, platelets, and brain tissues using an ELISA kit. Data are presented as mean ± SD. A) Quantification of 5-HT level in serum. As compared with saline-treated animals, GFS pretreatment increased 5-HT levels in the sham group although it did not achieve significance (p=0.184). However, there was a significant increase in 5-HT levels in the GFS-pretreated MI, depression, and MI + depression subgroups. *p<0.01, n=10 per subgroup. B) Quantification of 5-HT level in platelets. GFS pretreatment significantly increased 5-HT levels when compared with saline pretreatment for all subgroups: sham, MI, depression, and MI + depression. *p<0.01, n=10 per subgroup. C) Quantification of 5-HT level in the brain. With GFS pretreatment, 5-HT levels declined for all four animal subgroups. The declines for the MI-only (*p=0.025) and depression-only (*p=0.044) subgroups were significant, while the decreases did not achieve significance for the sham (p=0.060) and MI + depression subgroups (p=0.663).