Sulforaphane produces antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like effects in adult mice.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Animal research with no human data
PubMed 26721468 · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2015.12.030
What was done
Adult mice were administered repeated intraperitoneal injections of sulforaphane (10 mg/kg) and evaluated with behavioral assays including the forced swimming test, tail suspension test, novelty suppressed feeding test, and open field test. In a chronic mild stress model, behavioral changes were assessed using sucrose preference, forced swimming, tail suspension, novelty suppressed feeding, and open field tests. Serum levels of corticosterone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α were measured by ELISA.
What was found
No numerical values or effect sizes were reported in the abstract. Sulforaphane significantly decreased immobility time in the forced swimming and tail suspension tests, reduced latency to feed in the novelty suppressed feeding test, and increased central zone time in the open field test. In chronically stressed mice, sulforaphane significantly increased sucrose preference, reversed stress-induced anxiety behaviors, and blocked elevations in serum corticosterone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α.
Why it matters
This study demonstrates that sulforaphane can mitigate behavioral and neuroimmune changes associated with stress in rodents, suggesting a potential mechanistic link between anti-inflammatory pathways and stress responses.
Limits
This is an animal study in mice using intraperitoneal delivery, which does not directly translate to human oral consumption or clinical depression. Sample sizes, mouse strains, sex, and exact quantitative data with confidence intervals are not provided in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Animal studies have shown that sulforaphane or broccoli sprout extract is as effective as fluoxetine (Prozac) in alleviating stress-induced depression models.