Chai hu shu gan wan is a commonly prescribed tcm herbal formula. It is commonly used for liver qi stagnation in Chinese Medicine and applicability symptoms wise ranges from anxiety and/or depression to digestive issues to pain/stagnation. While the use of this formula is well understood in clinical terms, there is still room for analysis to better understand effects in biochemical terms.
This study was interested in single formula treatment for the co-existence of depression and osteoporosis. The researchers found that treatment with Chai hu shu gan wan over 8 weeks could "amerliorate depressive behaviors, and down-regulate mRNA expression and tissue content of inflammatory factors IL-1β and IL-6".