Effects of Ningdong granule on the dopamine system of Tourette's syndrome rat models.
BACKGROUND
Ningdong granula (NDG) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparation for the treatment of Tourette's syndrome (TS).


OBJECTIVE
To explore the effects of NDG on stereotyped behavior, homovanillic acid (HVA) in sera, dopamine (DA) and dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) in striatum in TS rats.


METHODS
Sixty-four rats were randomly divided into control group and three experimental groups. TS rat models were induced by intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of Apomorphine (Apo, 2 mg/kg) in the experimental groups. After Apo i.p., rats were intragastrically injected (i.g.) with NDG at 370 mg/kg (NDG+Apo group), haloperidol (Hal) at 1.0 mg/kg (Hal+Apo group), and normal saline (0.9%) at 10 ml/kg (control group and Apo group), respectively, once a day for 12 weeks. The behaviors of the rats were observed and recorded each day. After 12 weeks, all rats were sacrificed and sera and striatum were collected. The levels of HVA in sera, DA in striatum were examined by ELISA, and the expression of DRD2 mRNA in striatum was measured by RT-PCR.


RESULTS
NDG could increase the HVA content in sera (P<0.05), meanwhile downregulate the expression of DRD2 mRNA in striatum (P<0.05), and inhibit the stereotyped behaviors induced by Apo (P<0.01) in TS rats, the same effects with Hal. NDG could also reduce the DA content in striatum (P<0.01), while Hal could not.


CONCLUSIONS
NDG could effectively inhibit the stereotyped behaviors in TS rats, and the mechanisms may be related to the suppression of DA system by increasing the content of HVA in sera, decrease the content of DA and repressing the expression of DRD2 mRNA in striatum.
Lv
Hong
H
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University, No. 324, Jingwuweqi Road, Jinan 250021, Shandong, PR China.
Li
Anyuan
A
Ma
Hongbo
H
Liu
Fenye
F
Xu
Huanli
H
D000818:Animals; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000494:pharmacology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000097:blood; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism*
D015259:Dopamine Agents; D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; C544210:nindong; D001058:Apomorphine; D004298:Dopamine; D006719:Homovanillic Acid