Anti-depressant effects of ethanol extract from Cannabis sativa (hemp) seed in chlorpromazine-induced Drosophila melanogaster depression model. (1st January 2021) - Ahn, Yejin
Abstract: Context: Depression is a severe mental illness caused by a deficiency of dopamine and serotonin. Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae) has long been used to treat pain, nausea, and depression. Objective: This study investigates the anti-depressant effects of C. sativa (hemp) seed ethanol extract (HE) in chlorpromazine (CPZ)-induced Drosophila melanogaster depression model. Materials and methods: The normal group was untreated, and the control group was treated with CPZ (0.1% of media) for 7 days. The experimental groups were treated with a single HE treatment (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% of media) and a mixture of 0.1% CPZ and HE for 7 days. The locomotor activity, behavioural patterns, depression-related gene expression, and neurotransmitters level of flies were investigated. Results: The behavioural patterns of individual flies were significantly reduced with 0.1% CPZ treatment. In contrast, combination treatment of 1.5% HE and 0.1% CPZ significantly increased subjective daytime activity ( p < 0.001) and behavioural factors ( p < 0.001). These results correlate with increased transcript levels of dopamine ( p < 0.001) and serotonin ( p < 0.05) receptors and concentration of dopamine ( p < 0.05), levodopa ( p < 0.001), 5-HTP ( p < 0.05), and serotonin ( p < 0.001) compared to those in the control group. Discussion and conclusions: Collectively, HE administration alleviates depression-like symptoms by modulating the circadian rhythm-related behaviours, transcript levels of neurotransmitter receptors, and neurotransmitter levels in the CPZ-induced Drosophila model. However, additional research is needed to investigate the role of HE administration in behavioural patterns, reduction of the neurotransmitter, and signalling pathways of depression in a vertebrate model system.