ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the effects of total glucosides of white paeony(GWP) on psychological ethology and neuroendocrine system of stress rats. Methods Ten male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated as normal control group,the others (n=40) were constructed by isolated custody and chronic unpredictable stimuli to build the model of stress rats.Stress rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:model control group,GWP high dose group and low dose(66,33 mg·kg-1) group,fluoxetine(5. 0 mg·kg-1) group,each group had 10 rats.The changes of rat behavior were monitored by locomotor activity system.The change of emotion was observed by tail suspension test.The pathology change of adrenal was observed by HE staining.The levels of CorT and ACTH in serum were measured by radioimmunoassay.The expression of CRH mRNA of hypothalamic were detected by RT-PCR. Results The activity of the level scoring and vertical scoring of GWP high dose group was obviously improved as compared to that in model control group,while static time was significantly shortened,Adrenal index of GWP groups were increased significantly(P<0.05),thymus index of the treatment group was declined(P<0.05),CorT and ACTH content were decreased (P<0.05) and hypothalamus CRH mRNA of GWP group was decreased(P<0.05). Conclusion The improvement of activity and related hormone anomalous changes were observed in rats treated with GWP.The mechanism of its actions might be involved adjusting the endocrine function,decreasing CorT and ACTH content and the expression of hypothalamic CRH mRNA of stress rats.