Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to Systems
Depression is a multigenetic or multifactorial syndrome. The central neuron system (CNS)-orientated, single target, and conventional antidepressants are insufficient and far from ideal. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has historically been used to treat depression up till today, particularly in A...
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doaj-2323083ae457462d804eff3b92c66ae42020-11-25T01:56:35ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Pharmacology1663-98122020-05-011110.3389/fphar.2020.00586536202Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to SystemsChan Li0Chan Li1Junying Huang2Yung-Chi Cheng3Yuan-Wei Zhang4Yuan-Wei Zhang5School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine Yale University, New Haven, CT, United StatesSchool of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine Yale University, New Haven, CT, United StatesSchool of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Pharmacology, School of Medicine Yale University, New Haven, CT, United StatesDepression is a multigenetic or multifactorial syndrome. The central neuron system (CNS)-orientated, single target, and conventional antidepressants are insufficient and far from ideal. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has historically been used to treat depression up till today, particularly in Asia. Its holistic, multidrug, multitarget nature fits well with the therapeutic idea of systems medicine in depression treatment. Over the past two decades, although efforts have been made to understand TCM herbal antidepressants at the molecular level, many fundamental questions regarding their mechanisms of action remain to be addressed at the systems level in order to better understand the complicated herbal formulations in depression treatment. In this Mini Review, we review and discuss the mechanisms of action of herbal antidepressants and their acting targets in the pathological systems in the brain, such as monoamine neurotransmissions, hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, neurotropic factor brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) cascade, and glutamate transmission. Some herbal molecules, constituents, and formulas are highlighted as examples to discuss their mechanisms of action and future directions for comprehensive researches at the systems level. Furthermore, we discuss pharmacological approaches to integrate the mechanism of action from the molecular level into the systems level for understanding of systems pharmacology of TCM formulations. Integration of the studies at the molecular level into the systems level not only represents a trend in TCM study but also promotes our understanding of the system-wide mechanism of action of herbal antidepressant formulations.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2020.00586/fulltraditional Chinese medicinedepression treatmentmechanism of actionsystems pharmacologyneuropharmacology |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Chan Li Chan Li Junying Huang Yung-Chi Cheng Yuan-Wei Zhang Yuan-Wei Zhang |
spellingShingle |
Chan Li Chan Li Junying Huang Yung-Chi Cheng Yuan-Wei Zhang Yuan-Wei Zhang Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to Systems Frontiers in Pharmacology traditional Chinese medicine depression treatment mechanism of action systems pharmacology neuropharmacology |
author_facet |
Chan Li Chan Li Junying Huang Yung-Chi Cheng Yuan-Wei Zhang Yuan-Wei Zhang |
author_sort |
Chan Li |
title |
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to Systems |
title_short |
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to Systems |
title_full |
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to Systems |
title_fullStr |
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to Systems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Depression Treatment: From Molecules to Systems |
title_sort |
traditional chinese medicine in depression treatment: from molecules to systems |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Pharmacology |
issn |
1663-9812 |
publishDate |
2020-05-01 |
description |
Depression is a multigenetic or multifactorial syndrome. The central neuron system (CNS)-orientated, single target, and conventional antidepressants are insufficient and far from ideal. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has historically been used to treat depression up till today, particularly in Asia. Its holistic, multidrug, multitarget nature fits well with the therapeutic idea of systems medicine in depression treatment. Over the past two decades, although efforts have been made to understand TCM herbal antidepressants at the molecular level, many fundamental questions regarding their mechanisms of action remain to be addressed at the systems level in order to better understand the complicated herbal formulations in depression treatment. In this Mini Review, we review and discuss the mechanisms of action of herbal antidepressants and their acting targets in the pathological systems in the brain, such as monoamine neurotransmissions, hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, neurotropic factor brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) cascade, and glutamate transmission. Some herbal molecules, constituents, and formulas are highlighted as examples to discuss their mechanisms of action and future directions for comprehensive researches at the systems level. Furthermore, we discuss pharmacological approaches to integrate the mechanism of action from the molecular level into the systems level for understanding of systems pharmacology of TCM formulations. Integration of the studies at the molecular level into the systems level not only represents a trend in TCM study but also promotes our understanding of the system-wide mechanism of action of herbal antidepressant formulations. |
topic |
traditional Chinese medicine depression treatment mechanism of action systems pharmacology neuropharmacology |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2020.00586/full |
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