β-asarone from Acorus gramineus alleviates depression by modulating MKP-1.

In this study, we investigated the antidepressant effects of hippocampal neuron administration of β-asarone, a selective mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 inhibitor, in a rat model of depression. Our previous studies showed that the extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathway and brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression, which is regulated by extracellular signal-regulated kinase, are key links in the biological mechanism of depression. Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) is a negative regulatory protein of extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathways. In this study, we explored the regulation of MKP-1 by β-asarone in producing an antidepressant effect.