Hypericum perforatum has many medicinal properties such as anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-tumor; but has been reported its greatest effect on the treatment of depression which is attributed to Hyperforin and Hypericin conjugates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of chitosan (0, 50, 100 and 200 ppm) and silver nanoparticles (0, 30, 60 and 90 ppm) on expression of Hyp-1 gene. For this purpose, a real-time PCR experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications in two time period such as 48 and 72 hour. The results of analysis of variance were showed that interaction of silver nanoparticles, chitosan and time period was significant on the expression of Hypericin gene (P <0.01), so that the highest expression of Hyp-1 gene was obtained from 50 ppm chitosan with no  silver nanoparticles in the period time of 48 hours. It was related that In addition to the concentration of elicitor, the duration of stimulus exposure also influences the expression of the gene, but the nano-elicitors, with continuous presence, reduce the expression of the genes. Overall, the results of this study showed that silver nano particles had a negative effect on Hyp-1 gene expression, and with increasing concentration of silver nanoparticles, the expression of Hyp-1 gene decreased. However, chitosan had a positive effect on Hyp-1 gene expression, but by increasing the concentration to 200 ppm, the amount of gene expression decreased.

Keywords: Chitosan, Depression, Hypericin, Silver Nanoparticles

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