FIGURE 5.

Puerarin decreased the level of CNS TLR4. (A) Puerarin decreased the level of TLR4 in the prefrontal cortex of HFD/CUMS-induced depression-like rats (400×magnification). The localization of TLR4 was determined by immunofluorescence. TLR4-positive cells were identified as red, and the nucleus was stained with DAPI in blue. (B) Puerarin reduced the expression of TLR4 in the hippocampal tissues of HFD/CUMS-induced depression-like rats. The protein expression of TLR4 was detected by Western blotting. β-actin was used as the internal reference. The densitometry was quantified using ImageJ software. Values are expressed as mean ± S.E.M (n = 3). ^# p < 0.05 and ^## p < 0.01 vs. the normal control group; ^* p < 0.05 and ^** p < 0.01 vs. the HFD/CUMS group.