Effect of Yi-Nao-Jie-Yu Prescription on Post-Stroke Depression in Rats using Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Combined with Behavioral Restraint

Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a common, treatable complication of stroke, characterized by depressive and somatic symptoms that impair patient recovery and quality of life. This study describes a protocol combining middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) with behavioral restraint and isolation housing to establish a rat PSD model, and evaluates the therapeutic effect of Yi-nao-jie-yu Prescription (YNJYP) on adult neurogenesis in PSD rats. For model establishment, rats in the stroke, PSD, fluoxetine hydrochloride (FXT), and YNJYP groups underwent MCAO: a monofilament suture was advanced from the internal carotid artery to the middle cerebral artery (MCA) for 2 h of ischemia, followed by reperfusion. From post-MCAO day 7, rats in the PSD, FXT, and YNJYP groups were single-housed and restrained in a custom T-shaped platform for 2 h daily for 7 days. Behavioral assessments included the forced swim test (FST, for despair), sucrose consumption test (SCT, for anhedonia), and open-field test (OFT, for exploratory behavior). At 4 and 8 weeks post-stroke, PSD rats showed longer immobility time in FST and lower sucrose preference in SCT than stroke rats (P < 0.01). YNJYP reversed these depressive-like behaviors (P < 0.01), with efficacy comparable to FXT. This protocol confirms the validity of the PSD model and YNJYP's therapeutic potential, supported by rigorous experiments and data analysis.