Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Graduate College, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
Stress and Addiction Neuroscience Unit, Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
Nutrients. 2024 May 18;16(10):1527. doi: 10.3390/nu16101527.
In the process of validating the elevated zero maze, a common test of anxiety-like behavior, in our laboratory, we demonstrated an anxiolytic-like effect of castor oil and its primary component, ricinoleic acid. We tested the effects of vehicle and chlordiazepoxide in male mice in the elevated zero maze following a 30-min pretreatment time. Chlordiazepoxide is a United States Food and Drug Administration-approved drug that was previously shown to exert anxiolytic-like effects in both the elevated zero maze and elevated plus maze. Chlordiazepoxide was administered at doses of 5 or 10 mg/kg. We used 5% polyoxyl 35 castor oil (Kolliphor EL) and saline as treatment vehicles and found that the effect of chlordiazepoxide on open zone occupancy and open zone entries was blunted when 5% Kolliphor was used as the vehicle. These tests demonstrated that chlordiazepoxide increased open zone occupancy and entries in the elevated zero maze more effectively when saline was used as the treatment vehicle and that Kolliphor dampened the anxiolytic-like effect of chlordiazepoxide when it was used as the treatment vehicle. Notably, 5% Kolliphor alone slightly increased baseline open zone occupancy and entries. Given that Kolliphor is a derivative of castor oil, we next tested the effect of 5% castor oil and 5% ricinoleic acid, which is a major component of castor oil. We found that both castor oil and ricinoleic acid increased open zone occupancy but not entries compared with saline. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that Kolliphor, castor oil, and ricinoleic acid may exert anxiolytic-like effects in male mice in the elevated zero maze. This potential anxiolytic-like effect of castor oil is consistent with its well-established beneficial effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antifungal, and pain-relieving properties.
在我们实验室验证高架十字迷宫（一种常用的焦虑样行为测试方法）的过程中，我们发现蓖麻油及其主要成分蓖麻酸具有抗焦虑样作用。我们在雄性小鼠接受 30 分钟预处理后，在高架十字迷宫中测试了载体和地西泮的作用。地西泮是一种获得美国食品和药物管理局批准的药物，先前的研究表明，它在高架十字迷宫和高架十字迷宫中都具有抗焦虑样作用。地西泮的剂量为 5 或 10mg/kg。我们使用 5%聚氧乙烯 35 蓖麻油（Kolliphor EL）和生理盐水作为治疗载体，发现当使用 5% Kolliphor 作为载体时，地西泮对开放区域占用和进入次数的影响减弱了。这些测试表明，当使用生理盐水作为治疗载体时，地西泮更有效地增加了高架十字迷宫中的开放区域占用和进入次数，而当使用 Kolliphor 作为治疗载体时，地西泮的抗焦虑样作用被削弱。值得注意的是，单独使用 5% Kolliphor 略微增加了基线的开放区域占用和进入次数。由于 Kolliphor 是蓖麻油的衍生物，我们接下来测试了 5%蓖麻油和 5%蓖麻酸的作用，蓖麻酸是蓖麻油的主要成分之一。我们发现，与生理盐水相比，蓖麻油和蓖麻酸都增加了开放区域的占用，但没有增加进入次数。总之，我们的研究结果表明，Kolliphor、蓖麻油和蓖麻酸可能在雄性小鼠的高架十字迷宫中具有抗焦虑样作用。蓖麻油的这种潜在的抗焦虑样作用与其已确立的有益作用一致，包括抗炎、抗氧化、抗真菌和止痛作用。
