To investigate the effects and mechanism of artesunate on hippocampal neuronal damage in schizophrenia rats by adjusting Janus kinase 1 (JAK1)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway.

This study induced a rat model of schizophrenia using ketamine and divided them into model group, low-dose experimental group (5 mg·kg^-1 artesunate), medium-dose experimental group (10 mg·kg^-1 artesunate), and high-dose experimental group (20 mg·kg^-1 artesunate), each with 12 rats. Another 12 rats were considered as normal group. After 21 days of administration, the open field test and three box social behavior experiment were used to detect schizophrenia symptoms in rats; hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe hippocampal neural tissue; Nissl staining was used to observe neuronal damage; terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining was used to detect neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus; Western blotting was used to detect JAK1 and STAT3-related protein expression in the hippocampus.

The intersection distances of the central areas of blank group, model group and low, medium and high dose experimental groups were (0.65±0.08), (1.48±0.18), (1.27±0.15), (1.08±0.13) and (0.77±0.09) m, respectively; social interaction times are (63.53±7.39), (31.73±4.09), (38.38±5.32), (44.97±5.13) and (54.78±6.27) s, respectively ; the number of Nissl-positive cells in the hippocampus were (121.38±13.54), (62.63±6.87), (80.85±8.93) , (98.24±9.49) and (118.23±12.63) cells, respectively ; the apoptosis rates were (2.94±0.46)%, (34.73±3.83)%, (25.75±2.92)%, (16.49±2.21)% and (6.83±1.02)%, respectively; the levels of BDNF were (172.58±19.48), (68.49±8.31), (92.26±10.22), (115.08±13.34) and (142.82±16.37) pg·mg^-1, respectively; p-JAK1 protein relative expression levels were 0.38±0.05, 0.87±0.09, 0.73±0.09, 0.60±0.08 and 0.44±0.06, respectively ; p-STAT3 protein relative expression levels were 0.31±0.04, 0.79±0.09, 0.66±0.08, 0.53±0.06 and 0.38±0.05, respectively, when comparing the above indicators between model group and blank group, comparing the above indicators between low, medium, high dose experimental groups and model group, there were statistically significant differences (all P<0.05).

Artesunate may improve hippocampal neuronal damage in schizophrenia rats by inhibiting JAK1/STAT3 signaling pathway.