Abstract
BackgroundPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disease associated with that the experience of traumatic stress. The traumatic experience results in the development of a prolonged stress response that causes impaired memory function and increased inflammation in the hippocampus. Currently, antidepressants are the only approved therapy for PTSD. However, the efficacy of antidepressants in the treatment of PTSD is marginal. The ethanol extract of Aralia continentalis (AC) is traditionally used in oriental medicine, and has been showed to possess pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-atherosclerotic, and anti-diabetic effects. Nevertheless, the effects of AC on cognitive memory and its mechanism of action in PTSD remain unclear. Given the necessity of further treatment options for PTSD, we investigated the effect of AC on the spatial cognitive impairment caused by single prolonged stress (SPS) in a rat model of PTSD.MethodsMale rats were treated with various intraperitoneal (i.p.) doses of AC for 21 consecutive days after inducing chronic stress with the SPS procedure.ResultsCognitive impairment caused by SPS were inhibited after treatment with 100 mg/kg AC, as measured by the Morris water maze test and an object recognition test. Additionally, AC treatment significantly alleviated memory-related decreases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA and protein levels in the hippocampus. Our results suggest that AC significantly inhibited the cognitive deficits caused by SPS via increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6, in the rat brain.ConclusionsAC reversed the behavioral impairments and inflammation triggered by SPS-derived traumatic stress and should be further evaluated as a potential therapeutic drug for PTSD.
Highlights
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disease associated with that the experience of traumatic stress
We examined the relationship between stress-induced learning and memory deficits and cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, and the effects of such stress on inflammation in the hippocampus, with the aim of developing a novel treatment or trauma-associated disorders such as PTSD
Effect of Aralia continentalis (AC) on single prolonged stress (SPS)-induced alterations of plasma CORT levels To assess the effects of the SPS regimen and AC on the stress hormone system, we measured the levels of plasma CORT
Summary
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disease associated with that the experience of traumatic stress. Given the necessity of further treatment options for PTSD, we investigated the effect of AC on the spatial cognitive impairment caused by single prolonged stress (SPS) in a rat model of PTSD. In PTSD, stimuli associated with the traumatic event can lead to re-experiencing the event in the form of recurrent nightmares and flaskbacks [1, 3], and feelings of intense fear, helplessness, and horror. This leads to efforts to actively avoid such reminders [4] and the formation of highly aversive and intrusive memories related to the trauma that are resist to extinction [2, 5]. Hippocampal neurons, which play a major role in the cognition and memory alterations caused by SPS [2, 10], and involved in deficits in spatial memory [10, 11]
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