Efficacy of paeoniflorin on models of depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of rodent studies

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Paeoniflorin, a bioactive compound extracted from the traditional Chinese herb, Paeonia lactiflora Pall, has been demonstrated to possess efficient antidepressant activity in previous studies.Aim of the study: Our systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the effectiveness of paeoniflorin in relieving depressive-like behaviors in animal models.Materials and methods: We searched for in vivo studies on the antidepressant effects of paeoniflorin in rodents using electronic databases from their inception to April 2021. The measurements of animal behavioral tests, including the sucrose consumption, forced swimming, tail suspension, and open field tests, were regarded as the outcomes. Results: Fourteen studies involving 416 animals met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Statistical analysis revealed remarkable differences between the paeoniflorin and control groups. Furthermore, the paeoniflorin group showed great efficiency in improving depressive-like symptoms of animals in the sucrose consumption, forced swimming, tail suspension, and open field tests.Conclusions: Our meta-analysis demonstrates that paeoniflorin can significantly improve depressive-like symp-toms in animals and suggests that it can be a potential therapy for patients with depression in the future.