Nadaoka Isao, Yasue Masaaki, Kitagawa Yasushi, Koga Yoshihiko
Research Laboratories for Fundamental Technology of Food, Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., Moriya 302-0106, Japan.
Biomed Res. 2012 Jun;33(3):145-52. doi: 10.2220/biomedres.33.145.
Dried rhizomes of Cimicifuga racemosa (CR), which are known as black cohosh, have been widely used as herbal dietary supplements to treat menopausal symptoms. The present study examined the effect of CR extracts on human psychological and physiological responses to acute stress induced by mental arithmetic tests, by measuring the subjective stress intensity, the brain-wave patterns according to electroencephalography, and the concentrations of salivary chromogranin-A and cortisol. The experiments were performed double-blind and their order was counterbalanced. Treatment with CR significantly attenuated the elevated subjective perception of stress and the increased salivary chromogranin-A levels compared with placebo treatment. CR extract also rapidly recovered the decrease in alpha waveband induced by performing the mental arithmetic task. We therefore propose that CR extracts might be suitable for the prevention and treatment of stress-related disorders.
总状升麻（CR）的干燥根茎，即黑升麻，已被广泛用作草药膳食补充剂来治疗更年期症状。本研究通过测量主观应激强度、脑电图的脑电波模式以及唾液嗜铬粒蛋白A和皮质醇的浓度，考察了CR提取物对人类在算术测试诱导的急性应激下心理和生理反应的影响。实验采用双盲法进行，实验顺序相互平衡。与安慰剂治疗相比，CR治疗显著减轻了应激主观感受的升高以及唾液嗜铬粒蛋白A水平的增加。CR提取物还迅速恢复了因执行算术任务而导致的α波段减少。因此，我们认为CR提取物可能适用于预防和治疗与应激相关的疾病。
