Mechanism research of antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects of Xiaoyao San

International Conference and Exhibition on Traditional & Alternative Medicine

December 09-11, 2013 Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Hyderabad, India

Jia-xu Chen

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Altern Integ Med

Abstract :

Depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, and feelings of guilt or low self-worth, etc. These problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in an individual?s ability to take care of his or her everyday responsibilities. Xiaoyao San, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been used for treatment of mental disorders for centuries in China. Currently, it used alone or integrated with antidepressants has been widely used as an alternative and effective method for the depression treatment in China. Many clinical studies reported the effectiveness ranging from case reports and case series to controlled observational studies and randomized clinical trials, but the evidence for its effect is not clear. Since chronic stress is the main causative or predisposing factors of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders, so in previous studies, our group had successfully established the depression & anxiety rat model by use of chronic immobilization stress (CIS) or chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), and proceeded systematic mechanism studies combined with Xiaoyao San. These studies included animal behavior observation, animal scales evaluation, neuroendocrine biomarkers detection, synaptic plasticity research, intake and energy metabolism recording, metabolite & gene profile screening and others. All these researches were attempted to find the objective evidences of antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects of Xiaoyao San, which could explain the mechanism of this traditional Chinese medicines.

Biography :

Jia-xu Chen has completed his Ph.D. at the age of 32 years from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM), and as a visiting scholar studies from University California Los Angeles (UCLA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is the director of state-level subject of Chinese Medicine Diagnostics in BUCM, and he has spent virtually his entire career at this prestigious university. He has published more than 200 papers in reputed journals and serving as an editorial board member, and obtained many awards in recent years.