Virgin Coconut Oil Attenuates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Depression-like Behaviors: Integrating Network Pharmacology Analysis and Molecular Mechanism Evaluation

The depression is a mental disease that seriously affects the quality of life. It has complex pathophysiological characteristics, including neuroinflammation and apoptosis. Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is a natural food that has been found to have remarkable anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties. To further test the effects and mechanisms of VCO on depression based on the network pharmacological analysis and depression-like rat model, we found that VCO-treatment alleviated the depression-like behaviors, inhibited the activation of microglia and astrocytes, and reduced the loss of neurons in hippocampus, which may be due to decrease the apoptosis of neurons. Mechanically, network pharmacological analysis and western blotting showed that VCO might exert neuroprotective effects by activating Protein Kinase B (AKT)-related pathway. Taken together, our results identify unrecognized functions of VCO in depression, and further explore the underlying mechanism of depression.