The effects of puerarin on anxiety-like behavior and its relationship to ethanol consumption

• Grant number: 23/02004-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Karina Possa Abrahão
• Grantee: Thaynnam Arcebispo Emous
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/01686-0 - I cannot stop after the first ‘drink’! Alcohol effects on the inhibitory control brain systems, AP.JP
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/18470-5 - The relevance of the glucagon-like peptide 1 on alcohol-related and anxiety-like behaviors, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

Pathological anxiety includes a class of diseases that affects millions of people, being one of the most prevalent mental disorders in the world, and a symptom related to several behaviors such as alcohol abuse. The amygdala is a region of the brain related to anxiety. In fact, an evident activation of the amygdala is observed when an animal is exposed to an anxiogenic situation. Several factors modulate anxiety levels, including food. Puerarin, often found in kudzu root, is a compound that can alter anxiety levels, in addition to being widely used in oriental medicine to treat alcoholic intoxication. There are few studies that explain the mechanism by which puerarin acts on anxiety and it is still not well defined whether puerarin crosses the blood-brain barrier because it is a large molecule. Its effects under ethanol consumption and anxiety may occur through a different route: the protection against neuroinflammation by inflammatory agents that pass through the intestinal barrier or the modulation of the gut-brain axis hormones. This work aims to understand the mechanism by which puerarin alters anxiety-like behaviors and ethanol consumption, in addition to investigate the whole of amygdala in this effect.