Department of Pharmacy, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Salerno, Italy.
Departament of Psicobiology, University of Valencia, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain.
Molecules. 2018 Oct 19;23(10):2694. doi: 10.3390/molecules23102694.
Many vegetable extracts, essential oils, and their main constituents are active on the Central Nervous System (CNS). In fact, they have been used as sedatives, hypnotics, or tranquilizers for their activity in treating CNS disorders. In this research, we studied the possible activities of (LA) essential oil and of its main constituent, linalool, as anti-stress compounds on anxiety and social interaction and their in vitro effects on proteins (pERK and PKA) involved in the transmission of the signal. An acute intraperitoneal injection of linalool (100 mg/kg) and of LA essential oil (200 mg/kg) reduced motor activity without any anxiolytic effect, but significantly increased social interaction. Stressed mice, after being exposed to a social defeat encounter, showed heightened anxiety and social avoidance. Acute administration of LA essential oil blocked stress-induced anxiety, while linalool showed no effects. However, both compounds were capable of reversing social aversion, acting as antidepressant agents. Our results showed that linalool inhibits pERK and PKA expression in the SH-SY5Y cell, but no effect was detected with the LA essential oil. Therefore, the LA essential oil and linalool may be considered as useful alternative tools to the available traditional treatments for social stress-induced mental illnesses.
许多蔬菜提取物、精油及其主要成分对中枢神经系统（CNS）有活性。事实上，它们已被用作镇静剂、催眠剂或安定剂，以治疗 CNS 疾病。在这项研究中，我们研究了（LA）精油及其主要成分芳樟醇作为抗应激化合物对焦虑和社交互动的可能活性，以及它们在体外对参与信号传递的蛋白质（pERK 和 PKA）的影响。芳樟醇（100mg/kg）和 LA 精油（200mg/kg）的急性腹腔注射可减少运动活动，但无明显的抗焦虑作用，而显著增加社交互动。暴露于社交挫败遭遇后的应激小鼠表现出焦虑和社交回避增加。LA 精油的急性给药可阻断应激诱导的焦虑，而芳樟醇则无作用。然而，这两种化合物都能够逆转社交回避，表现出抗抑郁作用。我们的结果表明，芳樟醇抑制 SH-SY5Y 细胞中 pERK 和 PKA 的表达，但 LA 精油没有作用。因此，LA 精油和芳樟醇可被视为治疗社交应激引起的精神疾病的现有传统治疗方法的有用替代工具。
