IL6 and depressive symptom measurement: Furthermore, ferulic acid downregulates the levels of proinflammatory cytokines (such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) and upregulates the levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines (such as IL-10) in the hippocampus of the rat depression model by inhibiting the phosphorylation of the NF-κB pathway-related proteins (Zheng et al., 2019).