Abstract
Depression is a major mood disorder. Abnormal expression of glial glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) is associated with depression. Schisantherin B (STB) is one bioactive of lignans isolated from Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill which has been commonly used as a traditional herbal medicine for thousands of years. This paper was designed to investigate the effects of STB on depressive mice induced by forced swimming test (FST). Additionally, we also assessed the impairment of FST on cognitive function in mice with different ages. FST and open field test (OFT) were used for assessing depressive symptoms, and Y-maze was used for evaluating cognition processes. Our study showed that STB acting as an antidepressant, which increased GLT-1 levels by promoting PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Although the damage is reversible, short-term learning and memory impairment caused by FST test is more serious in the aged mice, and STB also exerts cognition improvement ability in the meanwhile. Our findings suggested that STB might be a promising therapeutic agent of depression by regulating the GLT-1 restoration as well as activating PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.