School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Int J Nanomedicine. 2022 Oct 20;17:4975-4988. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S382112. eCollection 2022.
At present, people are susceptible to developing depression and anxiety disorders in response to stress. However, there is no specific medicine for anxiety. Os Draconis (OD, named "Long gu" in Chinese) are fossilized bones that have been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat neurological diseases for thousands of years. Thus, we conducted this study to determine the biological basis for the anxiolytic effect of OD.
In this study, novel carbon dots (OD-CDs) from OD decoctions were discovered and separated. OD-CDs were anatomized using nanomaterials characterization methods to characterize the morphological structure, optical properties, and functional group properties. Four behavioural tests were conducted to observe the behavioural activities of mice, including the open field test (OFT), light/dark box test (LDT), elevated plus maze test (EPMT), and novelty-suppressed feeding test (NSFT), to determine its anxiolytic effects. Moreover, we assessed the possible mechanisms of the OD-CDs by detecting hormones associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
OD-CDs were spherical and monodispersed with a narrow size distribution between 1 and 5 nm and had a yield of 3.67%. OD-CDs increased the activity time of mice in the central zone in the OFT. The mice in the experimental group showed more frequent activity in the light compartment and the open arms, in LDT and EPMT, respectively. In addition, OD-CDs shortened the feeding latency in the NSFT. Furthermore, the results after OD-CDs intervention showed a significant increase in serum serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE). In addition, the concentrations of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ATCH), and corticosterone (CORT) were decreased.
These results demonstrate a definite anxiolytic effect of OD-CDs and reveal the possible mechanism of action of OD-CDs' anxiolytic effect, which supports the research of OD for neurological disorders and a promising new trend of therapeutic approach and drug development.
目前，人们容易因压力而出现抑郁和焦虑障碍。然而，目前还没有专门针对焦虑症的药物。龙骨（OD，中文名为“龙骨”）是一种化石骨骼，几千年来一直被用于中医治疗神经系统疾病。因此，我们进行了这项研究，以确定 OD 抗焦虑作用的生物学基础。
在这项研究中，从 OD 煎剂中发现并分离出新型碳点（OD-CDs）。使用纳米材料表征方法对 OD-CDs 进行分析，以表征其形态结构、光学性质和官能团性质。进行了四项行为测试来观察小鼠的行为活动，包括旷场测试（OFT）、明暗箱测试（LDT）、高架十字迷宫测试（EPMT）和新异物体抑制摄食测试（NSFT），以确定其抗焦虑作用。此外，我们通过检测与下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴相关的激素来评估 OD-CDs 的可能机制。
OD-CDs 呈球形且单分散，粒径分布在 1 至 5nm 之间，且产率为 3.67%。OD-CDs 增加了 OFT 中小鼠中央区域的活动时间。实验组小鼠在 LDT 和 EPMT 中分别更频繁地出现在亮室和开放臂中。此外，OD-CDs 缩短了 NSFT 的摄食潜伏期。此外，OD-CDs 干预后的结果显示血清 5-羟色胺（5-HT）和去甲肾上腺素（NE）水平显著升高。此外，促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素（CRH）、促肾上腺皮质激素（ATCH）和皮质酮（CORT）的浓度降低。
这些结果表明 OD-CDs 具有明确的抗焦虑作用，并揭示了 OD-CDs 抗焦虑作用的可能作用机制，这支持了 OD 用于治疗神经系统疾病的研究，为治疗方法和药物开发提供了有前途的新趋势。
