https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2022.02.032
Announcing a new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B . Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides (MOO) is an oral drug approved in China for the treatment of depression in China. The authors of this article demonstrate that oral MOO acts on tryptophan → 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) → serotonin (5-HT) metabolic pathway in the gut microbiota. MOO increases tryptophan hydroxylase levels in the gut microbiota which accelerates 5-HTP production from tryptophan; meanwhile, MOO inhibits 5-hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase activity, thus reducing 5-HT generation, and accumulated 5-HTP. The raised 5-HTP from the gut microbiota is absorbed to the blood, and then passed across the blood–brain barrier to improve 5-HT levels in the brain. Additionally, pentasaccharide, as one of the main components in MOO, exerts the significant anti-depressant effect through a mechanism identical to that of MOO.
This study reveals that MOO can alleviate depression via increasing 5-HTP in the gut microbiota.
Article reference: Zheng-Wei Zhang, Chun-Sheng Gao, Heng Zhang, Jian Yang, Ya-Ping Wang, Li-Bin Pan, Hang Yu, Chi-Yu He, Hai-Bin Luo, Zhen-Xiong Zhao, Xin-Bo Zhou, Yu-Li Wang, Jie Fu, Pei Han, Yu-Hui Dong, Gang Wang, Song Li, Yan Wang, Jian-Dong Jiang, Wu Zhong, Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides increase serotonin in the brain and ameliorate depression via promoting 5-hydroxytryptophan production in the gut microbiota, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B , Volume 12, Issue 8, 2022, Pages 3298-3312, ISSN 2211-3835, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2022.02.032 .
Keywords: Depression; Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides; Gut microbiota; Tryptophan hydroxylase; 5-Hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase; 5-Hydroxytryptophan; Serotonin; Drug metabolism
Graphical Abstract: available at https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2211383522000983-ga1_lrg.jpg
Up-regulating gut microbiota tryptophan hydroxylase levels and down-regulating 5-hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase activity is the molecular mechanism of action of the anti-depressant drug Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides.
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The Journal of the Institute of Materia Medica, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association .
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CiteScore: 15.9
Impact Factor: 14.903
JIF without self-citation: 13.888
ISSN 2211-3835
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Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B