Objective      To study the relation of reboxetine’s anti-depression effect with oxidative stress balance

HPA axis function and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression.       Methods       Sixty male SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group（NG），model group（MG）

reboxetine-treated normal group (RNG)

and reboxetine-treated model group(RMG). Reboxetine of  0.7 mg/（kg·d）was administered to RNG and RMG rats through intragastric gavage. A rat depressive model was induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress（CUMS）. Depressive behaviors of rats， level of MDA and activities of SOD and catalase (CAT) in cortex

serum corticosterone (CORT) and hippocampus BDNF level

mRNA expressions of hippocampus BDNF and hypothalamus corticotropin releasing factor (CRF)，were measured by elevated plus maze (EPM)

biochemistry

radioimmunity，immunohistochemical staining， and RT-PCR

respectively.       Results        The frequency for MG rats to enter the open arms and to explore downward significantly decreased

whereas  the time for MG rats to stay in open arms was significantly shorten but the time to stay in close arms was significantly prolonged，compared with NG rats (P0.01

P0.05). The levels of MDA and CORT and CRF mRNA expression significantly increased

but the activities of SOD and CAT and BDNF mRNA and protein expressions significantly decreased in MG rats，compared with NG（P0.05

P0.01）. Reboxetine treatment effectively prevented CUMS-induced the changes above in RMG rats

but failed to influence on RNG rats.       Conclusion        The anti-depression effect of reboxetine can improve the depressive behaviors of rats and up-regulate the BDNF expression in hippocampus by reversing the oxidative stress and anti-oxidative stress imbalance and improving the HPA axis function.