Antidepressant-like and neuroprotective effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Aloysia citriodora in animals subjected to childhood stress

Stress in childhood can harm brain development, leading to biological and systemic dysfunctions that, along with genetic factors, may contribute to major depressive disorder (MDD) in adulthood. MDD treatment is complex, with current drugs taking time to show effects and not working for many patients. As a result, medicinal plants, like Aloysia citriodora ( A. citriodora ), are being studied as treatments for resistant depression. The main objective of this proposal was to evaluate the treatment with the hydroalcoholic extract of the medicinal species A. citriodora Palau on depressive-like behaviors in rats subjected to chronic stress in childhood and on mechanisms involved in neuroprotection through the evaluation of neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. The stress caused by the maternal deprivation (MD) protocol in rodents culminated in a significant increase in depressive-like behaviors in adulthood, an increase in the expression of inflammatory substances IL-1 β and IL-6 in the animals' hippocampus, and an increase in the activity of oxidative stress parameters, such as myeloperoxidase (MPO) and TBARS, in serum and hippocampus. The treatment with A. citriodora reversed depressive-like behaviors similar to the group treated with escitalopram. Regarding markers of inflammation in nervous tissue, it was observed that animals treated with A. citriodora had lower levels than those treated with escitalopram and the control group, and even more significantly when compared to the MD group treated with saline. The treatments reduced MPO activity in the serum of animals that underwent the MD protocol. TBARS was decreased in the serum and ultimately reversed in the hippocampus.