P.1.i.017 Independent effects of acute tryptophan depletion on mood and cortical activation during working memory tasks

Abstract

Coronary artery disease is prevalent with high morbidity and coronary artery bypass grafting is one of its most important treatments. Anxiety and sleep disorders after surgery are very common and need appropriate control. The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Melissa officinalis L. (Lemon Balm) for managing this problem.A double-blind randomized placebo controlled clinical trial was conducted with 80 in-patients who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. The patients were randomized into either the herbal medicine or the placebo group. Capsules containing 500 mg of Melissa officinalis L. dried leaf powder as herbal medicine or wheat starch as placebo were administered three times a day. Sleep quality and anxiety measures were the main outcomes and St Mary’s Hospital Sleep Quality and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale were used questionnaires respectively.At baseline there were no significant differences in the anxiety scores between the two groups. After the intervention, anxiety scores were 7.15 ± 1.2 and 10.18 ± 3.1 in the herbal medicine and placebo groups respectively (P = 0.001). Moreover, the mean changes of sleep quality in the herbal medicine group was significantly higher than the placebo group; 14.40 ± 5.1 vs 7.52 ± 4.4 (P < 0.001).The results of current study showed that seven-day treatment with 1.5 g/day dried leaf powder of Melissa officinalis appeared to reduce the levels of anxiety and improve the sleep quality in patients after coronary artery bypass surgery, by 49% and 54% respectively.