Pharmacology Division, UGC Centre of Advance Study, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160014, India.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2010 May 7;10:18. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-10-18.
A stressful stimulus is a crucial determinant of health and disease. Antidepressants are used to manage stress and their related effects. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) in restraint stress-induced behavioral and biochemical alterations in mice.
Animals were immobilized for a period of 6 hr. St. John's Wort (50 and 100 mg/kg) was administered 30 minutes before the animals were subjecting to acute immobilized stress. Various behavioral tests parameters for anxiety, locomotor activity and nociceptive threshold were assessed followed by biochemical assessments (malondialdehyde level, glutathione, catalase, nitrite and protein) subsequently.
6-hr acute restraint stress caused severe anxiety like behavior, antinociception and impaired locomotor activity as compared to unstressed animals. Biochemical analyses revealed an increase in malondialdehyde, nitrites concentration, depletion of reduced glutathione and catalase activity as compared to unstressed animal brain. Five days St. John's Wort treatment in a dose of 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg significantly attenuated restraint stress-induced behavioral (improved locomotor activity, reduced tail flick latency and antianxiety like effect) and oxidative damage as compared to control (restraint stress).
Present study highlights the modest activity of St. John's Wort against acute restraint stress induced modification.
应激刺激是影响健康和疾病的关键决定因素。抗抑郁药被用于应对压力及其相关影响。本研究旨在探讨贯叶连翘（贯叶金丝桃）对束缚应激诱导的小鼠行为和生化改变的影响。
动物被固定 6 小时。在动物遭受急性束缚应激之前 30 分钟给予贯叶连翘（50 和 100mg/kg）。随后评估焦虑、运动活性和痛觉阈值等各种行为测试参数，随后进行生化评估（丙二醛水平、谷胱甘肽、过氧化氢酶、亚硝酸盐和蛋白质）。
与未应激动物相比，6 小时急性束缚应激导致严重的焦虑样行为、抗伤害感受和运动活性受损。与未应激动物大脑相比，生化分析显示丙二醛、亚硝酸盐浓度增加，还原型谷胱甘肽耗竭，过氧化氢酶活性降低。与对照组（束缚应激）相比，贯叶连翘以 50mg/kg 和 100mg/kg 的剂量连续 5 天治疗可显著减轻束缚应激诱导的行为（改善运动活性、降低甩尾潜伏期和抗焦虑样作用）和氧化损伤。
本研究强调了贯叶连翘对急性束缚应激诱导的改变具有适度的活性。
