Lemon oil vapor causes an anti-stress effect via modulating the 5-HT and DA activities in mice.
We examined the anti-stress action of the essential oils of lavender, rose, and lemon using an elevated plus-maze task (EPM), a forced swimming task (FST), and an open field task (OFT) in mice. Lemon oil had the strongest anti-stress effect in all three behavioral tasks. We further investigated a regulatory mechanism of the lemon oil by pre-treatments with agonists or antagonists to benzodiazepine, 5-HT, DA, and adrenaline receptors by the EPM and the FST. The anti-stress effect of lemon oil was significantly blocked by pre-treatment with frumazenil, benzodiazepine receptor antagonist, or apomorphine, a nonselective DA receptor agonist. In contrast, agonists or antagonists to the 5-HT receptor and the alpha-2 adrenaline receptor did not affect the anti-stress effect of lemon oil. Buspirone, DOI, and mianserine blocked the antidepressant-like effect of lemon oil in the FST, but WAY100,635 did not. These findings suggest that the antidepressant-like effect of lemon oil is closely related with the 5-HTnergic pathway, especially via 5-HT(1A) receptor. Moreover, the lemon oil significantly accelerated the metabolic turnover of DA in the hippocampus and of 5-HT in the prefrontal cortex and striatum. These results suggest that lemon oil possesses anxiolytic, antidepressant-like effects via the suppression of DA activity related to enhanced 5-HTnergic neurons.
Komiya
Migiwa
M
Graduate School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi 753-8515, Japan.
Takeuchi
Takashi
T
Harada
Etsumori
E
D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy; D019341:Aromatherapy; D002957:Citrus; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D027523:Lavandula; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000008:administration & dosage; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic / Q000187:drug effects; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000187:drug effects*; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000187:drug effects; D011985:Receptors, Serotonin / Q000187:drug effects*; D027826:Rosa; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy*
D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010938:Plant Oils; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D011985:Receptors, Serotonin; D012701:Serotonin; C501365:lemon oil; D004298:Dopamine; C045718:lavender oil