Experimental Study On Sedative And Hypnotic Effects Of Wu Shen Capsules In Mice

Sedative and hypnotic effects of WU Shen Capsules (WShC) were investigated in this study. 60 Kunming female mice were randomly divided into five groups: control group, diazepam group (3mg/kg.d), low-dose WShC group (L-WShC, 50mg/kg.d), medium-dose WShC group (M-WShC, 100mg/kg.d) and high-dose WShC group (H-WShC, 200mg/kg.d), and there were 12 mice in each group. All the mice in the different groups were given the corresponding agents orally and those in the control group was given the same volume of distilled water once a day continuously for 15 days, and the administration volume was 0.2mL/10g. After the last administration, locomotor activities and standing times of mice in all the groups were measured by a multiple functional mice locomotor activities recorder, and the threshold dose pentobarbital sodium-induced sleep experiment was conducted, to examine the sedative and hypnotic effect of Wu Shen Capsules. The results showed that after the administration, the locomotor activity was reduced, the sleep latency was shortened and the sleep duration was prolonged in all the WShC-treated groups, suggesting that Wu Shen Capsules has a significant sedative and hypnotic effect, and can be developed into a safe health functional food with a sleep-promoting function, but its mechanism should be explored by further experiments.