RESUMO
Objective To investigate the effects of Ligustilide on the withdrawal syndromes syn-dromes and monoamine neurotransmitters of hypothalamus and nucleus accumbens in morphine-dependent rats. Methods Totally 60 SD rats were divided into control group,model group,clonidine group and Ligust-ilide high(80 mg/kg),medium(40 mg/kg) and low(20 mg/kg) dose group according to the random number table with 10 in each group. Rats were given in gradual increasing doses of morphine to produce physical de-pendence. Morphine withdrawal syndrome was precipitated by naloxone and withdrawal symptoms were evalu-ated by Ryuta Tomoji score. The level of norepinephrine ( NE), dopamine ( DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in rats were tested with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). Results The total score of somatic withdrawal syndromes in the control group,model group,clonidine group and Ligustilide low,medium and high dose group were 0,(31. 83±7. 33),(17. 92±6. 88),(25. 58±5. 99),(19. 88±4. 82) and (16. 75 ±4. 01) . Compared with the model group,the morphine withdrawal syndromes scores of Ligustilide low,me- dium and high dose groups and clonidine group were reduced(all P<0. 05). The level of NE,DA and 5-HT in hypothalamus and nucleus accumbens were increased compared with that of control group. Compared with the model group,the level of NE,DA and 5-HT in hypothalamus and nucleus accumbens of Ligustilide low, medium and high dose groups and clonidine group were significantly reduced (P<0. 05). Conclusion Ligu-stilide can effectively alleviate the symptoms in morphine-withdrawal rats,which may be related to the inhibi-tion of excessive release of monoamine neurotransmitters in hypothalamus and nucleus accumbens.