• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.876-880
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• 2011

Gammakdaejo-Tang (GMT) is a traditional oriental medicinal formula, a mixture of 3 crude drugs, and it has been clinically used for treating mild depressive disorders. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of Gammakdaejo-Tang (GMT) on repeated stress-induced alterations of learning and memory on a passive avoidance test (PAT) test and also the anxiety-related behavior on the elevated pulse maze (EPM) in ovariectomized female rats. We assessed the changes in the reactivity of the cholinergic system by measuring the immunoreactive neurons of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the hippocampus after behavioral testing. The rats were exposed to the immobilization (IMO) stress for 14 days (2hours/day), and Gammakdaejo-Tang (400 mg/kg, p.o.) was administered 30 min before IMO stress. Treatments with GMT caused significant reversals of the stress-induced deficits in learning and memory on a working memory test, and it also produced an anxiolytic-like effect on the EPM, and increased the ChAT reactivities (p<0.001, respectively). These results suggest that Gammakdaejo-Tang might prove to be an effective antidepressant agent.