Journal of Functional Foods (Jul 2023)

Chrysin alleviated CUMS-induced depressive-like behaviors in mice via directly targeting Fyn

  • Zhipeng Li,
  • Qingchen Wang,
  • Zhonghong Zhang,
  • Yaping Guo,
  • Mingna Sun,
  • Li Li,
  • Wenbin He

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 106
p. 105603

Abstract

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Neuroinflammation is the common pathological feature of neuropsychiatric diseases. Chrysin, a kind of natural flavonoid compound, was reported to exert antidepressant effects, however the direct targets of chrysin remain unclear. Currently studies showed chrysin alleviated CUMS-induced depressive-like behaviors in mice. We found chrysin inhibited CUMS-induced microglia activation in mice. We further found that chrysin inhibited the activation of Fyn and NF-κB pathway, and decreased the expression of iNOS, COX2 and NLRP3. Furthermore, our data showed that chrysin can bind to Fyn using pull-down assay. Transfection siRNA-Fyn abolished the inhibitory effect of chrysin on activation of NF-κB pathway. This study revealed that targeting inhibition of Fyn by chrysin to alleviate CUMS-induced neuroinflammation and depressive-like behaviors via inhibiting the expression of iNOS, COX2 and NLRP3 mediated by inhibition of NF-κB pathway. Thus, this study has revealed, for the first time, Fyn was the direct target of chrysin against neuroinflammation and neuroinflammation-related depression.

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