抑郁症是一种广泛分布的严重精神病。全世界的患病率大约为17%，且持逐年增长趋势。抑郁症不仅影响人们在工作、学习和日常生活中的表现，也严重影响了生活满意度和幸福感。现代药理研究表明甘草具有抗抑郁作用。甘草酸二铵是甘草中主要有效成分甘草酸的铵盐，是已上市药品，是一种活性较强的治疗慢性肝炎药，具有较强的抗炎、保护肝细胞膜及改善肝功能的作用。甘草酸二铵通过减少氧化应激引起的细胞损伤、减少细胞凋亡的发生、改善炎症因子水平、抑制丝裂原活化蛋白激酶（MAPK）通路、降低转化生长因子水平发挥抗抑郁作用。

Depression is a widespread serious mental illness. The worldwide prevalence rate is about 17%, and it keeps increasing year by year. Depression not only affects people's performance in work, study, and daily life, but also seriously affects life satisfaction and happiness. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Glycyrrhiza uralensis has antidepressant effect. Diammonium glycyrrhizinate is an ammonium salt of glycyrrhizic acid, which is the main active ingredient in G. uralensis. It is a kind of drug with strong activity for treating chronic hepatitis. It has strong anti-inflammatory, protective effect on hepatocyte membrane and improving liver function. Diammonium glycyrrhizinate exerts antidepressant effect through reducing cell damage caused by oxidative stress, reducing the occurrence of apoptosis, improving inflammatory cytokines levels, inhibiting MAPK pathway, and reducing transforming growth factor levels.

哈尔滨医科大学大庆校区校内科研基金资助项目（2018XN-23）