Abstract: Curculigoside (CUR) is the main component of Curculigo and has various biological activities. However, it is not clear whether CUR inhibits post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-induced inflammation in the hippocampus of mice. In this study, a modified mouse model of single prolonged stress and electrical stimulation (SPS&S) was established to investigate the effect of curculigoside on neuroinflammation in the hippocampus of SPS&S-treated mice from the prospective of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) pathway. The results showed that, compared with that of SPS&S group, CUR significantly reduced the freezing time of PTSD mice during fear extinction (P<0.05). It increased the movement time and distance in the central area in the open field test (P<0.05), and increased the number of open arms in the Elevated Plus Maze Test (P<0.05). In addition, compared with that of SPS&S group, CUR decreased the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β in serum of PTSD mice (P<0.05). It improved the pathological changes in CA1 regions of the hippocampus, and decreased hippocampal expressions of NF-κB, NLRP3, and Caspase-1(P<0.05). These data implicated that CUR improved PTSD-like behaviors in mice, which might be related to the regulation of NF-κB-dependent neuroinflammation.

Key words: curculigoside, post-traumatic stress disorder, NF-κB, inflammation, fear extinction