Metabolite Profile Changes in Different Regions of Rat Brain Affected by Ephedra sinica

Therapeutic Use and Chronic Abuse of CNS Stimulants and Anabolic Drugs

The available evidence suggests that affective disorders, such as depression and anxiety, increase risk for accelerated cognitive decline and late-life dementia in aging individuals. Behavioral neuropsychology studies also showed that cognitive decline is a central feature of aging impacting the quality of life. Motor deficits are common after traumatic brain injuries and stroke, affect subjective well-being, and are linked with reduced quality of life. Currently, restorative therapies that target the brain directly to restore cognitive and motor tasks in aging and disease are available. However, the very same drugs used for therapeutic purposes are employed by athletes as stimulants either to increase performance for fame and financial rewards or as recreational drugs. Unfortunately, most of these drugs have severe side effects and pose a serious threat to the health of athletes. The use of performance-enhancing drugs by children and teenagers has increased tremendously due to the decrease in the age of players in competitive sports and the availability of various stimulants in many forms and shapes. Thus, doping may cause serious health-threatening conditions including, infertility, subdural hematomas, liver and kidney dysfunction, peripheral edema, cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial ischemia, thrombosis, and cardiovascular disease. In this review, we focus on the impact of doping on psychopathological disorders, cognition, and depression. Occasionally, we also refer to chronic use of therapeutic drugs to increase physical performance and highlight the underlying mechanisms. We conclude that raising awareness on the health risks of doping in sport for all shall promote an increased awareness for healthy lifestyles across all generations.

Validation of the Thyrotoxicosis-associated Insomnia Model Induced by Thyroxine through Sympathetic Stimulation: Face, Construct and Predictive Perspectives

Insomnia has become a common central nervous system disease. At present, the pathogenesis of insomnia is not clear. Animal models can help us understand the pathogenesis of the disease and can be used in transformational medicine. Therefore, it is very necessary to establish an appropriate model of insomnia. Clinical data show that insomnia patients with high levels of thyroxine and often accompanied by cardiovascular problems, a common mechanism underlying all of these physiological disruptions is the sympathetic nervous system. Combined with the characteristics of chronic onset of clinical insomnia, an insomnia model induced by long-term intraperitoneal injection of thyroid hormone has been created in our laboratory. In this paper, the insomnia-like state of the model was evaluated based on three validity criteria. Face validity has been demonstrated in metabolism, the Morris water maze, electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG). Structure validity has been proved by the results of targeted metabolomics. After treatment with diazepam, a commonly used clinical anti-insomnia drug, the above physiological and pathological disorders were reversed. The results of comprehensive analysis show that the established thyrotoxicosis-associated insomnia model meets the validity requirement to establish an appropriate animal model of insomnia. The model presented in this article might help to study pathogenetic mechanisms of clinical insomnia, as well as to test promising methods of insomnia treatment.