Mechanism Of Hewei Anshen Treatment For Primary Insomnia

Objective: To explore the mechanism of Hewei Anshen treatment forprimary insomnia by studying the changes of contents ofneurotransmitters in plasma and brain of rats disposed with PCPA.Methods:80healthy male Wistar rats were selected, which wererandomly divided into Normal group, Model group, Hewei AnshenDecoction group (HWASD group) and Diazepam group (n=20). Allrats but those in the Normal group were intraperitoneally injectedwith PCPA to be made into rat models of insomnia. The HWASDgroup rats were fed with Hewei Anshen Decoction for6days, theDiazepam group with diazepam solution, and the other two groupswith normal saline. Morris water maze analysis system was used todetect the learning and memory function of every group rats beforeand after experiment. After the end of experiment,10rats wererandomly selected from each group, whose hippocampus andhypothalami were removed and the contents of Glu and GABA wereanalyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC)． The remaining rats of each group were killed to collecttheir plasma and hypothalamus. Radioimmunoassav (RIA) was usedto measure the levels of orexin A, leptin and CCK-8in plasma andhypothalamus.Results:1. Changes of learning and memory capacity: The escapelatency of each team was shorter than that before modeling(P<0.01). The escape latency of Model group was significantlylonger than that of Normal group(P<0.01). Compared with Model group, the escape latency shortened in HWASD group andDiazepam group (P<0.01).2. Changes of Glu and GABA contents in brain tissue:Compared with Normal group, the Glu contents in hippocampus andhypothalamus of Model group were significantly higher (P<0.01),and the GABA contents were significantly decreased (P<0.01).Compared with Model group, Glu contents in hippocampus andhypothalamus of HWASD group and Diazepam group decreasedsignificantly (P<0.01), and the GABA contents were significantlyhigher (P<0.01).3. Changes of orexin A, leptin and CCK-8contents in plasmaand hypothalamus: Compared with Normal group, orexin A andleptin levels in plasma and hypothalamus of Model group increasedsignificantly (P<0.01), and CCK-8contents decreased (P<0.01).Compared with Model group, orexin A and leptin levels in plasmaand hypothalamus of HWASD group decreased(P<0.01), andCCK-8levels increased (P<0.01). Contents of orexin A, leptin andCCK-8in Diazepam group were similar to Model group(P>0.05).Conclusion:1. PCPA disposed rats have impaired learning and memoryabilities and HWASD group rats have learning and memoryabilities improved, suggesting that Hewei Anshen Decotion canimprove learning and memory function.2. The Mechanism of Hewei Anshen Treatment to Insomnia isrelated to the regulation of contents of amino acidneurotransmitters such as Glu and GABA in brain tissue.3. The Mechanism of Hewei Anshen Treatment to Insomnia isrelated to the regulation of contents of Neurotransmitters such asorexin A, leptin and CCK-8in plasma and brain tissue.