ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Neuropharmacology
Antidepressant-like effects of Rg1 by Mycn: promotion of neurogenesis in the hippocampus
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
- 2Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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Abstract: Ginsenoside Rg1 has been shown to have antidepressant effects by increasing hippocampal neurogenesis, but the molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this research, we showed that Rg1 has antidepressant-like effects by increasing neurogenesis in the hippocampus, and these effects are achieved through Mycn. The evidence shows that Rg1 has antidepressant like effects in the tail suspension test, sucrose preference test. Moreover, Rg1 has anxiolytic-like effects in the O-maze test. In addition, Rg1 increases Mycn mRNA expression by q-PCR test. Mycn overexpression in the DG of ventral hippocampus is stress resilient. Furthermore, Mycn inhibition makes the mice more susceptible to depression and Rg1 can't rescue this effect. In conclusion, Ginsenoside Rg1 targets Mycn to increase hippocampal neurogenesis to alleviate depressive-like behaviors.
Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, MYCN, Neurogenesis, Rg1
Received: 29 Oct 2025; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Shi, zhang, Fan, Chen, xu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jiao Chen
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