Bruner Natalie R, Anderson Karen G
West Virginia University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 6040, Morgantown, WV 26506, United States.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2009 Apr;92(2):297-303. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2008.12.017. Epub 2008 Dec 31.
Kava is a widely available and used herbal medicine that is not regulated in many countries. There are many questions concerning kava's stimulus properties, potential for therapeutic use, and potential for abuse. Although there is evidence that kava may possess some anxiolytic properties, kava's mechanism of action and the extent to which it may serve as an alternative to pharmaceutical anxiolytics are not fully known. The current study was designed to evaluate whether kava shares discriminative-stimulus properties with the anxiolytic chlordiazepoxide (CDP). Effects of different doses of kava extract were evaluated in two groups of rats trained to discriminate either a high or low training dose of CDP (i.p.). In order to assess time-course effects, two tests were conducted/session at 60 (Test One) and 90 (Test Two) min following oral administration of kava, CDP, or d-amphetamine. Dose-dependent substitution of CDP was found in both training groups in both tests. Kava (560 mg/kg, p.o.) occasioned responding indicative of partial substitution in both groups during Test One and only the low-dose group during Test Two. Partial substitution of kava extract for CDP suggests that the herbal compound may share a mechanism of action similar to CDP, but is less potent.
卡瓦是一种广泛可得且常用的草药，在许多国家都不受监管。关于卡瓦的刺激特性、治疗用途潜力和滥用潜力存在许多问题。尽管有证据表明卡瓦可能具有一些抗焦虑特性，但其作用机制以及它可作为药物抗焦虑药替代品的程度尚不完全清楚。当前的研究旨在评估卡瓦是否与抗焦虑药氯氮卓（CDP）具有辨别刺激特性。在两组经训练以辨别高或低训练剂量CDP（腹腔注射）的大鼠中评估了不同剂量卡瓦提取物的效果。为了评估时间进程效应，在口服卡瓦、CDP或右旋苯丙胺后60分钟（测试一）和90分钟（测试二）各进行两次测试/时段。在两项测试中，两个训练组均发现了CDP的剂量依赖性替代。卡瓦（560毫克/千克，口服）在测试一中使两组出现了表明部分替代的反应，在测试二中仅低剂量组出现了这种反应。卡瓦提取物对CDP的部分替代表明，这种草药化合物可能具有与CDP相似的作用机制，但效力较弱。
