Journal of Basic and Clinical Pathophysiology

Journal of Basic and Clinical Pathophysiology

The effects of swimming exercise and Nepeta menthoides on depression and anxiety induced by reserpine

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Faezeh Rezaei 1
Batoul Rahmati 2
Maryam Malakian 1
Mohsen Khalili 2
Mahdi Alizadeh 2
1 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran
2 Neurophysiology Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran
10.22070/jbcp.2020.4949.1123
Abstract
Background and Objective: Physical activity has long been associated with mental health. Nepeta menthoides is a native Iranian herb recently acknowledged for its anti-depressant properties. This study attempted to determine and compare the effects of swimming exercise and Nepeta menthoides on reserpine-induced depression in rats.
Materials and Methods: Male rats (n=80) were assigned to 8 groups: 1-Saline, 2-Reserpine (0.2 mg/kg, i.p. for 14 days) 3-Swimmig Exercise( 30 min swimming sessions daily for 2 weeks ) 4-Nepeta (200 mg/kg), 5-Reserpine+Nepeta, 6-Reserpine+Swimming exercise, 7-Reserpine+Nepeta+Swimming exercise, 8-Reserpine+Fluoxetine, Finally, the behavioral tests including sucrose preference, elevated plus maze and open field were performed.
Results: Obtained data showed that depressed rats which were treated with Nepeta, exercise or both of them expressed higher preference for sucrose relative to reserpine group and their locomotor activity was also significantly improved. However, combined Nepeta+Exercise could not significantly antagonize the effect of reserpine on time spent in the open arms of elevated plus maze, but Nepeta in particular displayed marked anti-anxiety effect.
Conclusion: Combined treatment with Nepeta+exercise as the same as only Nepeta or exercise was able to alleviate anhedonia and low activity in depressed rats. Nevertheless, Nepeta alone could significantly improve reserpine-induced anxiety.
Keywords
Depression
Reserpine
Swimming Exercise
Nepeta menthoides
  1. Sinanović O, Hudić J, Zukić S, Kapidžić A, Zonić L, Vidović M. Depression and dementia in Parkinson’s disease. Acta clinica Croatica 2015;54(1.):73-5.
  2. Benazzi F. Various forms of depression. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience 2006;8(2):151.
  3. Dudek KA, Dion‐Albert L, Kaufmann FN, Tuck E, Lebel M, Menard C. Neurobiology of resilience in depression: immune and vascular insights from human and animal studies. European Journal of Neuroscience 2019;00:1–39. 
  4. Thachil A, Mohan R, Bhugra D. The evidence base of complementary and alternative therapies in depression. Journal of Affective Disorders 2007;97(1-3):23-35.
  5. Archer T, Josefsson T, Lindwall M. Effects of physical exercise on depressive symptoms and biomarkers in depression. CNS & Neurological Disorders-Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets-CNS & Neurological Disorders) 2014;13(10):1640-53.
  6. Petzinger GM, Holschneider D, Fisher B, McEwen S, Kintz N, Halliday M, et al. The effects of exercise on dopamine neurotransmission in Parkinson’s disease: targeting neuroplasticity to modulate basal ganglia circuitry. Brain Plasticity 2015;1(1):29-39.
  7. Ng V, Millard W, Lebrun C, Howard J. Low-intensity exercise improves quality of life in patients with Crohn's disease. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine 2007;17(5):384-8.
  8. Liu W, Sheng H, Xu Y, Liu Y, Lu J, Ni X. Swimming exercise ameliorates depression-like behavior in chronically stressed rats: relevant to proinflammatory cytokines and IDO activation. Behavioural Brain Research 2013;242:110-6.
  9. Woost L, Bazin P-L, Taubert M, Trampel R, Tardif CL, Garthe A, et al. Physical exercise and spatial training: a longitudinal study of effects on cognition, growth factors, and hippocampal plasticity. Scientific Reports 2018;8(1):4239.
  10. Memariani Z, Rahimi A, Farzaei MH, Nejad NZ. Nepeta menthoides Boiss. & Buhse, an endemic species in Iran: A review of traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology. Journal of Herbmed Pharmacology 2019;8(3).
  11. Asadi Balsin Sharif Abadi S, Nasri S, Amin G, Bidaran S. Anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effects of hydroalchoholic extract of Nepeta menthoides on pain in aerial parts in male mice. Journal of Jahrom University of Medical Sciences 2013;11(3):1-9.
  12. Kolouri S, Firoozabadi A, Salehi A, Zarshenas MM, Dastgheib SA, Heydari M, et al. Nepeta menthoides Boiss. & Buhse freeze-dried aqueous extract versus sertraline in the treatment of major depression: A double blind randomized controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Medicine 2016;26:164-70.
  13. Antkiewicz-Michaluk L, Wąsik A, Możdżeń E, Romańska I, Michaluk J. Antidepressant-like effect of tetrahydroisoquinoline amines in the animal model of depressive disorder induced by repeated administration of a low dose of reserpine: behavioral and neurochemical studies in the rat. Neurotoxicity Research 2014;26(1):85-98.
  14. Damghani F, Bigdeli I, Miladi-Gorji H, Fadaei A. Swimming exercise attenuates psychological dependence and voluntary methamphetamine consumption in methamphetamine withdrawn rats. Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences 2016;19(6):594.
  15. Zavvari F, Karimzadeh F. A Methodological Review of Development and Assessment of Behavioral Models of Depression in Rats. The Neuroscience Journal of Shefaye Khatam 2015;3(4):151-60.
  16. Jähkel M, Rilke O, Koch R, Oehler J. Open field locomotion and neurotransmission in mice evaluated by principal component factor analysis-effects of housing condition, individual activity disposition and psychotropic drugs. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 2000;24(1):61-84.
  17. Doremus-Fitzwater TL, Varlinskaya EI, Spear LP. Effects of pretest manipulation on elevated plus-maze behavior in adolescent and adult male and female Sprague–Dawley rats. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 2009;92(3):413-23.
  18. Baumeister AA, Hawkins MF, Uzelac SM. The myth of reserpine-induced depression: role in the historical development of the monoamine hypothesis. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 2003;12(2):207-20.
  19. Ikram H, Haleem DJ. Repeated treatment with reserpine as a progressive animal model of depression. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2017;30(3).
  20. Minor TR, Hanff TC. Adenosine signaling in reserpine-induced depression in rats. Behavioural Brain Research 2015;286:184-91.
  21. Skalisz LL, Beijamini V, Joca SL, Vital MA, Da Cunha C, Andreatini R. Evaluation of the face validity of reserpine administration as an animal model of depression–Parkinson's disease association. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 2002;26(5):879-83.
  22. Khadrawy YA, Sawie HG, Hosny EN, Mourad HH. Assessment of the antidepressant effect of caffeine using rat model of depression induced by reserpine. Bulletin of the National Research Centre 2018;42(1):36.
  23. de Freitas CM, Busanello A, Schaffer LF, Peroza LR, Krum BN, Leal CQ, et al. Behavioral and neurochemical effects induced by reserpine in mice. Psychopharmacology. 2016;233(3):457-67.
  24. Delgado PL. Depression: the case for a monoamine deficiency. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2000;61 Suppl 6:7-11.
  25. Dey S, Singh R, Dey P. Exercise training: significance of regional alterations in serotonin metabolism of rat brain in relation to antidepressant effect of exercise. Physiology & Behavior 1992;52(6):1095-9.
  26. Marcelino T, Longoni A, Kudo K, Stone V, Rech A, De Assis A, et al. Evidences that maternal swimming exercise improves antioxidant defenses and induces mitochondrial biogenesis in the brain of young Wistar rats. Neuroscience 2013;246:28-39.
  27. Rahmati B, Beik A. Prevention of morphine dependence and tolerance by Nepeta menthoides was accompanied by attenuation of Nitric oxide overproduction in male mice. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2017;199:39-51.
  28. Delshad AA, Parvizi M. The neuroprotective effect of Nepeta menthoides on axotomized dorsal root ganglion sensory neurons in neonate rats. Journal of Basic and Clinical Pathophysiology 2014;2(2):13-20.