antidepressant-like properties of the fullerenol in a LPS -induced depressive mouse model

We evaluated the antidepressant-like effects of fullerenol against LPS-induced depressive-like behaviors in mice. Fullerenol treatment produced an antidepressant-like effect, as indicated by preventing the LPS-induced reduction in the sucrose preference and shortening the immobility in both the tail suspension test and the forced swim test. We found that fullerenol treatment mitigated LPS-induced microglia activation and the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus of mice. Hippocampal RNA-Seq analysis revealed that differentially expressed genes by fullerenol treatment and LPS were enriched for factors that control proinflammatory cytokine and neurogenesis. Our observations indicate that fullerenol has antidepressant effects, which could be attributed to its beneficial effects in reducing neuroinflammatory processes and promoting neurogenesis in the hippocampus.