Fig. (6).

7,8-DHF crosses the blood-brain barrier, restores the abnormal BDNF-TrkB signaling pathway in the PFC and hippocampus, activates the downstream AKT-mTOR and MAPK-ERK pathway, and increases the expression of synaptic proteins (PSD95 and synaptophysin), thus exerting anti-depressive effects. Abbreviations: (HIP: hippocampus, PFC: prefrontal cortex, BDNF: brain-derived neurotrophic factor, TrkB: tyrosine kinase receptor B, AKT: protein kinase B, mTOR: mammalian target of rapamycin, MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinase, ERK: extracellular signal-regulated kinase, 7,8-DHF:7,8-Dihydroxyflavone, PSD95: postsynaptic density 95).