Eugenol exhibits antidepressant-like activity in mice and induces expression of metallothionein-III in the hippocampus.
Irie. Yoshifumi Y; Itokazu. Nanae N; Anjiki. Naoko N; Ishige. Atsushi A; Watanabe. Kenji K; Keung. Wing Ming WM
Key Findings
- Eugenol reduced depressive-like behavior in mice comparable to imipramine
- Both eugenol and imipramine increased BDNF in the hippocampus
- Eugenol, but not imipramine, raised metallothionein-III levels in the hippocampus
Practical Outcomes
- Since the research does not involve melanotan-I, it offers no actionable guidance for using that peptide. Biohackers interested in eugenol might note its potential mood-lifting effects in animal models, but human relevance and dosing remain unclear.
Summary
The study looks at eugenol, a plant compound, showing it can act like an antidepressant in mice and may increase a brain protein called MT-III, but it has nothing to do with the peptide melanotan-I.
Abstract
Here we show that eugenol has an antidepressant-like activity comparable to that of imipramine using a forced swim test and a tail suspension test in mice. Furthermore, we show that both eugenol and imipramine induce brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus with and without induction of metallothionein-III (MT-III), respectively. It may be possible that MT-III expression is involved in the exhibition of antidepressant-like activity of eugenol, not of imipramine.
Study Information
pubmed
2004
2004-06-18T00:00:00.000Z
10.1016/j.brainres.2004.03.040
66
26