A study of the substance dependence effect of the ethanolic extract and iridoid-rich fraction from Valeriana jatamansi Jones in mice.

BACKGROUND: Recently we found the ethanolic extract and iridoid-rich fraction from Valeriana jatamansi Jones, which is a traditional Chinese medicine exhibited anxiolytic properties. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to the substance dependence effect of the ethanolic extract and iridoid-rich fraction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included two experiments: Mice were given orally with ethanolic extract for 12 weeks or iridoid-rich fraction for 16 weeks in experiment I and experiment II, respectively. Diazepam was used as a control drug and the normal mice groups were administered with 0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose Na in both experiments. All groups were administered twice daily. Natural withdrawal symptoms, withdrawal-induced body weight change, audiogenic tail-erection test (in experiment I), and pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced convulsion test (in experiment II) were measured. RESULTS: (1) Compared to normal group in both experiments, the diazepam-treated group exhibited obvious withdrawal symptoms of tail-erection, irritability, teeth chattering, etc; the body weight of them after withdrawal had a period of significant loss (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); and the ratios of tail-erection and seizure in two experiments were improved significantly when mice were induced by mixer noise ringtone (experiment I) or PTZ (experiment II) (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).(2) In experiment I and II, there were no significant differences between mice that received ethanolic extract or iridoid-rich fraction and normal group in terms of natural withdrawal symptoms and withdrawal-induced body weight change (P > 0.05); in audiogenic tail-erection test, it found that the significant difference compared with normal group was just in ethanolic extract 900 mg/kg dose group on week 8 (P < 0.05); in PTZ-induced convulsion test, mice in iridoid-rich fraction groups had a slightly tail-erection and seizure, all results of them were with no significant difference compare to normal mice (P > 0.05), while significant lower than diazepam group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: (1) The two experiments successfully established the physical dependence of diazepam by gradually increasing the dose.(2)There were just a few mice received with ethanolic extract for 12 weeks or iridoid-rich fraction for 16 weeks appearing some slight withdrawal symptoms after precipitated withdrawal, but it didn't show significant difference compared to normal mice. Therefore, these indicated that the risks of potential drug dependence about ethanolic extract and iridoid-rich fraction were far lower than that of diazepam.

Influence of Hovenia dulcis on alcohol concentration in blood and activity of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) of animals after drinking / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effects of H. dulcis on relieving alcohol toxicity by animal experiments.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Male kunming mice were ovraiectomized and randomly divided into 5 groups: control group, model group, and aqueous extracts of H. dulcis group at 0.5, 0.25, 0.125 g x mL(-1). The acute alcohlism animals induced by gastral administration with "Er Guo Tou" and the alchol concentrations in serum were detected after treated with the extracts within 0.5-3 h by biochemical enzymes.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The alcohol concentration in blood was up to the maximum in 0.5-1.5 h. However, the alcohol concentrations in blood of aqueous extract from H. dulcis group were decreased in 0.5-3 h. The activity of ADH in the liver in aqueous extract of H. dulcis group was increased in 2-3 h, while it was significantly increased in 1-1.5 h (P <0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The aqueous extract of H. dulcis could reduce the alchol concentration in blood of animals and inrease the activity of ADH after given alcohol. It means the extract has the effect of relieving alcohol toxicity and preventing drunkenness through restraining the absorption of alcohol in the gastrointestinal tract and promoting the metabolism of alcohol in the liver.</p>

The comparison between the therapeutic effect of the combination of ~(99m)Tc-methnetium methylene diphosphonate and colloidal chromic phosphate phosphonium-32 and each treatment alone in rats with adjuvant arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To compare the therapeutic effect of the combination of ~(99m)Tc-methnetium methylene diphosphunate and colloidal chromic,phosphate ~(32)p with the monotherapies in rats with adjuvant arthritis(AA).Methods In this study,50 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups with 10 rats in each:normal control group(arthritis induced and treated with the same volume of normal saline via the same administration route),AA control group(arthritis induced with adjuvant and treated with normal sa- line),~(32)p colloid group(arthritis induced with adjuvant and treated with single intra-articular injection of col- luidal chromic phosphate ~(32)p 0.74 MBq and intra-peritoneal injection of normal saline every other clay),~(99m)Tc- MDP group(arthritis induced with adjuvant and treated with intra-peritoneal injection of ~(99m)Tc-MDP 2.5?10~(-3)?g/kg every other day and single intra-articular injection of normal saline),combination group(arthritis in- duced with adjuvant and treated with the combination of the two drugs).The diameter of the left hind ankle, serum levels of turnout necrosis factor(TNF)and interleukin-1?(IL-1?),and the pathological changes of an- kle joints were tested at different time points.Results The diameter of the left hind ankle at week 4 was smaller in the combination group than that of the ~(32)p colloid treatment alone group [(7.11?0.34)mm vs(7.57?0.29)mm,P