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Abstract
Background: Psychocardiological researches have suggested a central role of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) on psychocardiological mechanism. This study aimed to further explore the central role of 5-HT and pretreatment effects of XinLingWan on rats with myocardial infarction (MI) and/or depression. Methods: Ninety Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: MI group, depression group, and MI + depression group (n = 30 in each group). Each group was then divided into three subgroups (n = 10 in each subgroup): a negative control subgroup (NCS), a Western medicine subgroup (WMS), and a traditional Chinese medicine subgroup (TCMS), which were received pretreatment once a day for 4 weeks by saline, 20 mg/kg sertraline mixed with 2 ml saline, and 40 mg/kg XingLingWan mixed with 2 ml saline, respectively. Different rat models were established after different pretreatments. Rats were then sacrificed for detection of serum 5-HT, platelet 5-HT, 5-HT2A receptors (5-HT2A R), and serotonin transporter (SERT). Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least-significant difference (LSD) testing. Results: MI group: compared with NCS, there was a significant increase in WMS and TCMS of serum 5-HT (176.15 +- 11.32 pg/ml vs. 334.50 +- 29.09 pg/ml and 474.04 +- 10.86 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000), platelet 5-HT (129.74 +- 27.17 pg/ml vs. 322.24 +- 11.60 pg/ml and 340.4 5 +- 17.99 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000); depression group: compared with NCS, there was a significant increase in WMS and TCMS of serum 5-HT (194.69 +- 5.09 pg/ml vs. 326.21 +- 39.98 pg/ml and 456.33 +- 23.12 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000), platelet 5-HT (175.15 +- 4.07 pg/ml vs. 204.56 +- 18.59 pg/ml and 252.03 +- 22.26 pg/ml, respectively, P = 0.004 and P = 0.000, respectively); MI + depression group: compared with NCS, there was a significant increase in both WMS and TCMS of serum 5-HT (182.50 +- 10.23 pg/ml vs. 372.55 +- 52.23 pg/ml and 441.76 +- 23.38 pg/ml, respectively, both P = 0.000) and platelet 5-HT (180.83 +- 11.08 pg/ml vs. 221.12 +- 22.23 pg/ml and 265.37 +- 29.49 pg/ml, respectively, P = 0.011 and P = 0.000, respectively). Conclusions: By elevating the amount of 5-HT and modulating 5-HT2A R and SERT levels in serum and platelets, XinLingWan and sertraline were found to exert pretreatment effect on rat models of MI and/or depression.