title: [Mechanism of Bailemian capsules in the treatment of insomnia in mice].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the mechanism of Bailemian capsules in the treatment of insomnia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 50 imprinting control region (ICR) mice were randomly divided into 5 groups of normal control, model, high, medium and low-dose Bailemian capsules. After oral administration of Bailemian capsules for 14 consecutive days, except for control group, the other four groups received an injection of chlorobenzene alanine (PCPA) for murine modeling of insomnia. Then murine behaviors were observed and the brain tissue levels of serotonin (5-HT) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were detected. Another two batches of ICR mice (n = 50 each) were randomly divided into 5 groups of normal control, diazepam, high, medium and low-dose Bailemian capsules. After 14-hour fasting, except for normal control group, an intragastric dose of Bailemian was offered. Before dosing and at 30, 60, 120, 240 min, general behaviors within 5 min were recorded. For another batch, at 30 min after an intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital sodium 25 mg/kg, disappearance of righting reflex as sleep index was used to observe the proportion of mice within 15 min in terms of sleep, sleep latency and total sleep time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In middle and high-dose groups, insomnia symptoms improved significantly. The contents of 5-HT and GABA in brain tissue were significantly higher than those of model group ((164.6 ± 12.8), (193.2 ± 25.6) vs (147.1 ± 15.5) ng/ml and (15.4 ± 1.3), (17.0 ± 1.3) vs (12.6 ± 1.4) mol/L) (all P < 0.05). And the number of activities at 120 min was significantly less than that of normal control group ((91.3 ± 10.4), (78.5 ± 12.7) vs (150.7 ± 10.8) times) (both P < 0.05). Low, medium and high-dose Bailemian capsules could improve the proportion of mice within 15 min sleep. And sleep latency was shorter than that of normal control group ((8.9 ± 0.6), (7.3 ± 0.6), (2.1 ± 0.3) vs 0 min) and total sleep time longer than that of normal control group ((76.7 ± 7.1), (85.1 ± 7.1), (110.0 ± 22.9) vs 0 min) (all P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mechanism of Bailemian capsules for treating the symptoms of insomnia may be related with the elevated brain contents of 5-HT and GABA.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Animal Center, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.affiliation: Sleep Medicine Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. Email: xiangdong.tang@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiangdong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002214:Capsules; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D051379:Mice; D012701:Serotonin; D012890:Sleep; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
chemical_list: D002214:Capsules; D012701:Serotonin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid