Evaluation of anxiolytic activity of compound Valeriana jatamansi Jones in mice

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Jian-You Guo¹  Bao-Sheng Zhao²  Hu-Zhan Zheng²  Jin-Li Shi²  Jie-Shu You²  Yong Liu²  Min Peng² 

[1] Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, P.R. China;School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 100102, Beijing, P.R. China;

关键词: Valeriana jatamansi;    Anxiolytic;    Elevated maze-plus;    Light–dark box;    Benzodiazepine receptors;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-12-223

 received in 2012-03-31, accepted in 2012-10-16,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCompound Valeriana jatamansi Jones is a formula for treating anxiety-related diseases in the clinic, which is composed of Valeriana jatamansi Rhizoma et Radix, Ziziphi Spinosae Semen, Albiziae Cortex and Junci Medulla. The purpose of this study was to explore the anxiolytic properties of this compound in mice.MethodsMale ICR mice were treated with compound Valerianae Jatamansi Jones (1.2 g/kg, 2.4 g/kg, 4.8 g/kg), saline, diazepam (2 mg/kg) orally for 10 days and then exposed to elevated maze-plus (EPM) and light–dark box (LDB). The effects of the compound on spontaneous activity were evaluated by locomotor activity test. We further investigated the mechanism of action underlying the anxiolytic-like effect of compound by pre-treating animals with antagonists of benzodiazepine (flumazenil, 3mg/kg) prior to evaluation using EPM and LDB.ResultsCompound Valerianae Jatamansi Jones (2.4, 4.8 g/kg, p.o.) significantly increased entries (P<0.05) into and time spent (P<0.05) on the open arms of the EPM, and number of transitions (P<0.05) and time spent (P<0.05) in the light compartment of the LDB. However, the anxiolytic-like effects of compound were significantly reduced by pre-treatment with flumazenil (P>0.05). In addition, compound Valerianae Jatamansi Jones treatment didn’t affect the spontaneous activity in mice (P> 0.05).ConclusionsThe present study supports the hypothesis that compound Valeriana jatamansi Jones exert anxiolytic action but no sedative effects in mice and that this effect might be mediated by benzodiazepine receptors.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© You et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.