HMOX1 and depressive symptom measurement: Concurrently, SFN has been shown to improve anxiety and depression symptoms in mice by activating the Nrf2/ heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) signaling pathway (Ferreira-Chamorro et al., 2018) and inhibiting the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and stress response (Wu et al., 2016).