Isoalantolactone relieves depression-like behaviors in mice after chronic social defeat stress via the gut-brain axis

RATIONALE: The management of depression continues to be challenging despite the variety of available antidepressants. Herbal medicines are used in many cultures but lack stringent testing to understand their efficacy and mechanism of action. Isoalantolactone (LAT) from Elecampane (Inula helenium) improved the chronic social defeat stress (CSDS)-induced anhedonia-like phenotype in mice comparable to fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). OBJECTIVES: Compare the effects of LAT and fluoxetine on depression-like behaviors in mice exposed to CSDS. RESULT: The CSDS-induced decrease in protein expression of postsynaptic density (PSD95), brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and glutamate receptor subunit-1 (GluA1) in the prefrontal cortex was restored by LAT. LAT showed robust anti-inflammatory activity and can lessen the increase in IL-6 and TNF-α caused by CSDS. CSDS altered the gut microbiota at the taxonomic level, resulting in significant changes in α- and β-diversity. LAT treatment reestablished the bacterial abundance and diversity and increased the production of butyric acid in the gut that was inhibited by CSDS. The levels of butyric acid were negatively correlated with the abundance of Bacteroidetes, and positively correlated with those of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes across all treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: The current data suggest that, similar to fluoxetine, LAT show antidepressant-like effects in mice exposed to CSDS through the modulation of the gut-brain axis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00213-023-06413-8.