title: Anticonvulsant and sedative-hypnotic activity screening of pearl and nacre (mother of pearl).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pearl and nacre are valuable traditional medicines to treat palpitations, convulsions or epilepsy in China for thousands of years. However, the active ingredients are not clear till now.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The main purpose of the current investigation was to assess the anticonvulsant and sedative-hypnotic activity of pearl powder and nacre powder, including their corresponding 6 protein extracts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Determination of the amino acid composition of the obtained protein was carried out by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) combined with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC) pre-column derivatisation. The influence of the tested drugs on locomotor activity and convulsions latency was recorded. The contents of 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in brain were detected by enzyme-linked immunesorbent assay (ELISA) kits. In addition, immunohistochemistry was carried out to evaluate the changes of 5-HT3 and GABAB. In parallel, the expressions of them were demonstrated by western blot.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The obtained data suggested that pearl original powder (1.1g/kg), pearl water-soluble protein (0.2g/kg), pearl acid-soluble protein (0.275g/kg), pearl conchiolin protein (1.1g/kg), nacre original powder (1.1g/kg), nacre water-soluble protein (0.2g/kg), nacre acid-soluble protein (0.7g/kg) and nacre conchiolin protein (1.1g/kg) could down-regulate the expression of 5-HT3 and up-regulate the level of GABAB to varying degrees compared with the control group. Besides, drug administration also reduced the locomotor activity and increased convulsions latency with a certain mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings correlated with the traditional use of pearl and nacre as sedation and tranquilization agents, thus making them interesting sources for further drug development and also providing critical important evidence for the selection of quality control markers.
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Xian
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Shang-Rong
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Qi-Rui
authors.initials: QR
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Lu-Ying
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Su-Mei
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China. Electronic address: wanyingwu@simm.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Wan-Ying
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Haike Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: De-An
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D060734:Nacre / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011208:Powders / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D000927:Anticonvulsants; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D060734:Nacre; D011208:Powders; D011506:Proteins; D014867:Water; C010699:conchiolin; D012701:Serotonin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
keywords: 5-HT3; Anticonvulsant; GABA(B); Nacre; Pearl; Sedative–hypnotic