초록

Introductions:
Depression is the top 13 disease burden, has a high recurrence rate, and is a major factor in suicide. Antidepressants, considered as a priority treatment for depression, have many side effects and are highly non-compliant and there are are many patients with treatment-resistant depression. Therefore, many studies have been conducted on other treatments such as herbal medicine. Lespedeza cuneata is a plant with various effects, but the effect on depression has not been studied yet. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the ef-fect of Lespedeza cuneata G. Don in an astrocyte reduced mouse model of de-pression through L-alpha aminoadipic acid (L-AAA) injection.

Methods:
The main components of Lespedeza cuneata were confirmed through ultra-high performance liquid chromatography. Depression model mice were made by injecting L-AAA into the prefrontal cortex. The mice were transplanted a guide cannula after an adaptation period of 1 week, and L-AAA was injected one week later. Lespedeza cuneata at doses of 300 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg, and distilled water were orally administrated to mice for 16 days. After L-AAA injection, we conducted open field test (OFT), tail suspension test (TST) and forced swimming test (FST). The day after TST, mice were sacrificed to re-move brain tissue. Changes in astrocytes and NeuN (neuronal nuclei) were observed through immunohistochemistry analysis.

Results:
It was confirmed that camperol and beta-sitosterol were the main components of Lespedeza cuneata. In the OFT results, there was no difference in motor ability for each group. Lespedeza cuneata reduced the immobility time in-creased by L-AAA injection in FST and TST. Astrocytes, which were reduced by L-AAA injection, increased again in Lespedeza cuneata group. NeuN(neuronal nuclei) did not differ between groups.

Discussion & Conclusion:
There was no significant difference in the motor ability of Lespedeza cuneata extract group and the distilled water group. In addition, the significant reduc-tion in imobility time in Lespedeza cuneata extract group compared to the dis-tilled water group in the FST and TST means that Lespedeza cuneata has the effect of reducing depression. The decrease in GFAP (Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein) expression in immunohistochemical tests means that Lespedeza cu-neata extract recovered the decrease in astrocytes. These findings suggest that Lespedeza cuneata had an antidepressant effect by restoring glial cells.