Korean Red Ginseng inhibits methamphetamine addictive behaviors by regulating dopaminergic and NMDAergic system in rodents

Journal of Ginseng Research

Choon-Gon Jang¹  Seon-Kyung Kim²  Young-Jung Kim²  Youyoung Lee²  Shi-Xun Ma²  Seong-Eon Kim²  Kwang-Hyun Hur²  Seok-Yong Lee²  Bo-Ram Lee²  Yong-Hyun Ko²  Su-Jeong Sung² 

[1] Corresponding author. Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Republic of Korea.;Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea;

关键词: dopamine;    drug seeking behavior;    Korean Red Ginseng;    methamphetamine;    N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: Methamphetamine (METH) is the most widely used psychostimulant and has been known to exhibit reinforcing effects even after long abstinence. We showed the inhibitory effect of Korean Red Ginseng extract (RGE) on METH-induced addictive behaviors in animal models mimicking the human drug-use pattern. Methods: We first investigated the effect of RGE on the acquisition of METH-induced dependence using self-administration and conditioned place preference (CPP) tests. Additionally, further experiments such as METH-induced motivational behavior and seeking behavior were conducted. To study the underlying mechanism, dopamine receptor, dopamine transporter, and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor were assessed through Western blot analysis. Results: Treatment with RGE significantly reduced METH-induced self-administration on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule of reinforcement. It could be also decreased a progressive ratio schedule, and inhibited METH-primed reinstatement. In CPP, RGE significantly prevented the development of METH-induced CPP. Moreover, RGE not only shortened the withdrawal period clearly, but also prevented the reinstatement of CPP. RGE treatment also reversed METH-induced overexpression of dopamine transporter, dopamine receptor D1, and NMDA receptor in the nucleus accumbens. Conclusion: Our findings reflect that RGE has therapeutic potential to suppress METH-induced addictive behaviors by regulating dopaminergic and NMDAergic system.

【 授权许可】

Unknown