Chemical Composition of Essential Oil from Flower of 'Shanzhizi' (Gardenia jasminoides Ellis) and Involvement of Serotonergic System in Its Anxiolytic Effect

Herbal medicines for insomnia through regulating 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors: a systematic review

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder without effective therapy and can affect a person's life. The mechanism of the disease is not completely understood. Hence, there is a need to understand the targets related to insomnia, in order to develop innovative therapies and new compounds. Recently, increasing interest has been focused on complementary and alternative medicines for treating or preventing insomnia. Research into their molecular components has revealed that their sedative and sleep-promoting properties rely on the interactions with various neurotransmitter systems in the brain. In this review, the role of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in insomnia development is summarized, while a systematic analysis of studies is conducted to assess the mechanisms of herbal medicines on different 5-HT receptors subtypes, in order to provide reference for subsequent research.

Shumian Capsule Improves the Sleep Disorder and Mental Symptoms Through Melatonin Receptors in Sleep-Deprived Mice

Healthy sleep is vital to maintaining the body's homeostasis. With the development of modern society, sleep disorder has gradually become one of the most epidemic health problems worldwide. Shumian capsule (SMC), a kind of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) commonly used for insomnia, exhibits antidepressant and sedative effects in clinical practice. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully clarified. With the aid of a network pharmacology approach and function enrichment analysis, we identified the involvement of melatonin receptors in the antidepressant and sedative effects of SMC. In sleep-deprived mice, SMC treatment significantly alleviated insomnia and relevant mental alterations by improving both sleep latency and sleep duration. However, ramelteon, a selective melatonin receptor agonist that has been approved for the treatment of insomnia, only improved sleep latency. Additionally, SMC exhibited comparable effects on mental alterations with ramelteon as determined by an open-field test (OFT) and forced swimming test (FST). Mechanistically, we revealed that the melatonin receptor MT1 and MT2 signaling pathways involved the therapeutic effects of SMC. In addition to the single effect of traditional melatonin receptor agonists on treating sleep onset insomnia, SMC had therapeutic potential for various sleep disorders, such as sleep onset insomnia and sleep maintenance insomnia. Convergingly, our findings provide theoretical support for the clinical application of SMC.

Essential Oils of Gardenia jasminoides J. Ellis and Gardenia jasminoides f. longicarpa Z.W. Xie & M. Okada Flowers: Chemical Characterization and Assessment of Anti-Inflammatory Effects in Alveolar Macrophage

Alveolar macrophage is the predominant cell type in the lung and is thought to be the major target for anti-inflammatory therapy in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Aromatherapy using natural essential oils with anti-inflammatory effects for inhalable administration is a potential complementary and alternative therapy for COPD treatment. The Gardenia jasminoides flower is famous for its fragrance in East Asia and is used for treating colds and lung problems in folk medicine. Therefore, in the present study, flower essential oils from two main medicinal gardenia varieties (G. jasminoides J. Ellis and G. jasminoides f. longicarpa Z.W. Xie & M. Okada) were extracted by hydro-distillation, and their chemical components were analyzed by GC-MS. The anti-inflammatory effects of the two essential oils and their main ingredients were further studied on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced models in murine alveolar macrophages (MH-S). The results indicated that the chemical constituents of the two gardenia varieties were quite different. Alcohol accounted for 53.8% of the G. jasminoides essential oil, followed by terpenes (16.01%). Terpenes accounted for 34.32% of the G. jasminoides f. longicarpa essential oil, followed by alcohols (19.6%) and esters (13.85%). Both the two gardenia essential oils inhibited the LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) release and reduced the production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the MH-S cells. Linalool and α-farnesene dose-dependently reduced the NO release in the MH-S cells. Linalool and α-farnesene did not affect the PGE2 production but regulated the expression of TNF- α. In addition to linalool and α-farnesene, other components in the gardenia flower essential oils appeared to be able to act as anti-inflammatory agents and influence the PGE2 pathway.

Salidroside Improves Chronic Stress Induced Depressive Symptoms Through Microglial Activation Suppression

Depression is a severe neurological disorder highly associated with chronic mental stress stimulation, which involves chronic inflammation and microglial activation in the central nervous system (CNS). Salidroside (SLDS) has been reported to exhibit anti-neuroinflammatory and protective properties on neurological diseases. However, the mechanism underlying the effect of SLDS on depressive symptoms has not been well elaborated. In the present study, the effects of SLDS on depressive behaviors and microglia activation in mice CNS were investigated. Behavioral tests, including Forced swimming test (FST), Open field test (OFT) and Morris water maze (MWM) revealed that SLDS treatment attenuated the depressive behaviors in stress mice. SLDS treatment significantly reduced the microglial immunoreactivity for both Iba-1 and CD68, characteristic of deleterious M1 phenotype in hippocampus of stress mice. Additionally, SLDS inhibited microglial activation involving the suppression of ERK1/2, P38 MAPK and p65 NF-κB activation and thus reduced the expression and release of neuroinflammatory cytokines in stress mice as well as in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced primary microglia. Also, SLDS changed microglial morphology, attachment and reduced the phagocytic ability in LPS-induced primary microglia. The results demonstrated that SLDS treatment could improve the depressive symptoms caused by unpredictable chronic stress, indicating a potential therapeutic application of SLDS in depression treatment by interfering microglia-mediated neuroinflammation.