Baicalin is the main flavonoid in the skullcap plant (Scutellaria baicalensis). Evidence suggests that baicalin, like many flavonoids, has particular antidepressant effects. Animal models of depression, that involve stress testing the animals and monitoring their behaviour, show that baicalin has significant antidepressant effects in mice. The mechanism for this might be a significant ability of baicalin to attenuate the response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to external stress stimuli. The effect of this is a significant reduction in the release or corticosterone, one of the main stress hormones in rodents. Baicalin might regulate gene expression, causing changes to proteins that are involved in the stress response. In this way baicalin may normalise the stress hormone output following stress and this may give animals a reduced exposure to the detrimental mood effects of the stress response. Other flavonoids may work via similar mechanisms which might explain their anti-stress effects.
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