Figure 5. Anti-neuroinflammatory effects of paeoniflorin in the ventral hippocampus (vHi).

The mice were sacrificed after 4 weeks of treatment with paeoniflorin and behavioral tests. The ventral hippocampus was quickly removed and the levels of a series of inflammation-related cytokines and chemokines were analyzed using cytokine array analysis. The most effective dose of paeoniflorin in reversing depressive-like behaviors in interferon-α-treated mice, 40 mg/kg, showed some anti-neuroinflammatory effects in the emotion-associated vHi, in part similar to those seen with escitalopram. n=4 mice per group. *p< 0.05, **p< 0.01, ***p< 0.001 compared with the saline-treated group; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ###p<0.001 compared with the interferon-α-treated group. Error bars: means±SEM.