Silymarin reverses post-traumatic stress-related anxiety and depression in mice by enhancing monoaminergic systems, inhibiting cytokine release, and reducing astrocytic dysfunction. (PubMed, Neuroscience)
After a triple-paradigm successive traumatic process of SPS and mice isolation for 7 days, they were treated as control (saline 10 mL/kg, p.o), SPS, SPS + silymarin (25, 50, 100 mg/kg, p.o), and SPS + fluoxetine (10 mg/kg, p.o) groups from days 8-21...Notably, silymarin significantly reduced GFAP expression in the prefrontal cortex as well as in the hippocampal CA3 subregion. These findings demonstrate that silymarin exerts anti-PTSD-like effects through the enhancement of monoaminergic concentrations, suppression of neuroinflammation, and restoration of astrocytic function.