Antidepressant-like effects of aqueous extract from Cecropia pachystachya leaves in a mouse model of chronic unpredictable stress.

Chronic stressful stimuli influence disease susceptibility to depression, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders. The present work investigated antidepressant and antioxidant properties of the aqueous extract from Cecropia pachystachya in a mouse model of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). Our results indicated that acute administration of the aqueous extract (AE) from C. pachystachya (200 and 400mg/kg, p.o.) produced an antidepressant-like effect in the forced swimming test (FST). The chronic treatment with C. pachystachya extract (200mg/kg, p.o., for 14 days) prevented the depressant-like effect but not the anxiogenic effect induced by CUS. In addition to the behavioral modifications, the 14 days of CUS increased lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus (HP) and prefrontal cortex (PFC), decreased total thiol content and glutathione peroxidase activity in the HP. C. pachystachya AE administration during CUS protocol was able to prevent the oxidative damage induced by stress. However, no changes were observed in the activity of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase in the above cited brain areas after the stress protocol and treatment. Our results suggest that C. pachystachya prevented both depressive behavior and oxidative damage induced by CUS, supporting its neuroprotective potential against behavioral and biochemical dysfunctions induced by chronic stress.