Research Progress on the Pharmacodynamic Mechanisms of Sini Powder against Depression from the Perspective of the Central Nervous System

• Published in: Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Vol. 59; no. 4; p. 741
• Main Authors: Shen, Zhongqi, Yu, Meng, Dong, Zhenfei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.04.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Antidepressants; Apoptosis; blood–brain barrier; Brain research; Care and treatment; Central Nervous System; Chinese medicine; Cytokines; depression; Depression - drug therapy; Depression - etiology; Drug development; Humans; Inflammation; Insomnia; Kinases; Major depressive disorder; Medicine, Chinese Traditional - methods; Mental depression; Metabolism; Mood Disorders; Nervous system; Neurogenesis; Oxidative stress; Permeability; Pharmaceutical research; pharmacodynamic mechanism; Pharmacodynamics; Pharmacokinetics; Pharmacology; Phosphorylation; Powders; Proteins; Review; Sini Powder; Suicides & suicide attempts; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; China; blood–brain barrier; pharmacodynamic mechanism; depression; Sini Powder; central nervous system
• ISSN: 1648-9144; 1010-660X; 1648-9144
• DOI: 10.3390/medicina59040741

Depression is a highly prevalent emotional disorder characterized by persistent low mood, diminished interest, and loss of pleasure. The pathological causes of depression are associated with neuronal atrophy, synaptic loss, and neurotransmitter activity decline in the central nervous system (CNS) resulting from injuries, such as inflammatory responses. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, patients with depression often exhibit the liver qi stagnation syndrome type. Sini Powder (SNP) is a classic prescription for treating such depression-related syndrome types in China. This study systematically summarized clinical applications and experimental studies of SNP for treatments of depression. We scrutinized the active components of SNP with blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability and speculated about the corresponding pharmacodynamic pathways relevant to depression treatment through intervening in the CNS. Therefore, this article can enhance our understanding of SNP's pharmacological mechanisms and formula construction for depression treatment. Moreover, a re-demonstration of this classic TCM prescription in the modern-science language is of great significance for future drug development and research.