Abstract: To assess the effects of folic acid and the levels of β-CaMK II in lateral habenular nucleus of PCPA depression mice.40 Kuming mice were randomly divided into control group,model group and folic acid group.The mice were intraperitoneally injected by PCPA once a day over a period of 4d to construct depression model.Then the changes in behaviors were observed.The level of 5-HT in the hypothalamus was detected by HPLC and the expression of β-CaMK II in the lateral habenular nucleus was verified by immunohistochemistry.Compared with model group,the locomotor activity was significantly increased (P<0.05) and the immobility time of tail suspension was obviously reduced in folic acid treatment groups (P<0.05).The level of 5-HT in the hypothalamus was detected by HPLC and the expression of β-CaMK II in the Lateral habenular nucleus were significantly decreased (P<0.05).The results indicated that folic acid can significantly increase hypothalamus 5-HT and lateral habenular nucleus β-CaMK II,which could be the mechanism of antidepressant effect of folic acid.

Key words: folic acid, depression, PCPA, &beta, -CaMK II