Abstract

Muscle soreness or pain and fatigues are important physical symptoms in patients with depression, which could negatively affect the movement desire and daily functioning of patients. The main pathological mechanism of muscle soreness and fatigue is not only related to the injury of muscle fibers and connective tissue, but also related to inflammation and mitochondrial damage. At present, the traditional SSRIs have no obvious effect on the improvement of somatic symptoms such as muscle soreness and fatigues in depression. Xing Pi Jie Yu (XPJY) Decoction is one of the most widely used clinical formulas of traditional Chinese medicine. Our study aims to exploring whether it has Anti-inflammatory and mitochondrial effects on skeletal muscle. The rat model of depression was established by CUMS (chronic unpredictable mild stress, CUMS) for 6 weeks. They were randomly divided into four groups: control group, CUMS group, CUMS+XPJY group, CUMS+ sertraline group. We used sucrose preference test, forced swimming test and Open field exploratory behavior test to verify the success of the depression model. The contents of CK in orbital blood were measured weekly as well as the following assay index were measured on 14^th day, 28^th day and 42^th day, including TNF-α, IL-6, ATP and mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I, II, III, IV in gastrocnemius muscle, the mitochondrial ultrastructure was observed by transmission electron microscope. Research shows that, CUMS could induce inflammation, damage of mitochondrial function and structure in skeletal muscle. Early application of sertraline could prevent the increase of pro-inflammatory factors in skeletal muscle tissue, but it couldn’t improve the function and structure of mitochondria. XPJY decoction could significantly reduce the content of pro-inflammatory factors in skeletal muscle tissue and serum CK, prevent the damage of mitochondrial function and structure of skeletal muscle. This research provides an important theoretical basis for the clinical application of XPJY.

Keywords: ATP; CK; Depression; Respiratory chain complex; XPJY decoction