title: Hydroalcoholic extract of needles of Pinus eldarica enhances pentobarbital-induced sleep: possible involvement of GABAergic system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Insomnia is accompanied by several health complications and the currently used soporific drugs can induce several side effects such as psychomotor impairment, amnesia, and tolerance. The present study was planned to investigate the sleep prolonging effect of Pinus eldarica.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hydroalcoholic extract (HAE) of P. eldarica, its water fraction (WF), ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) and n-butanol fraction (NBF) were injected (intraperitoneally) to mice 30 min before administration of pentobarbital. Then, the latent period and continuous sleeping time were recorded. Also, LD50 of P. eldarica extract was determined and the possible neurotoxicity of the extract was tested on neural PC12 cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The HAE and NBF decreased the latency of sleep (p<0.05) and significantly increased duration of sleep (p<0.05) induced by pentobarbital. These effects of P. eldarica were reversed by flumazenil. The LD50 value for HAE was found to be 4.8 g/Kg. HAE and its fractions did not show neurotoxic effects in cultured PC12-cell line.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present data indicate that P. eldarica potentiated pentobarbital hypnosis without major toxic effect. Most probably, the main components responsible for this effect are non-polar agents which are found in NBF of this plant.
authors: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: Fatemeh
authors: F
authors: Forouzanfar
authors: Pharmacological Research Center of Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: Ahmad
authors: A
authors: Ghorbani
authors: Neurocognitive Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Neurogenic Inflammation Research Center, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: Mahmoud
authors: M
authors: Hosseini
authors: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Pharmacological Research Center of Medicinal Plants, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors: Hassan
authors: H
authors: Rakhshandeh
keywords: Diazepam; Insomnia; PC12; Pinuseldarica; Sleep