Abstract
Licorice and dried ginger decoction (Gancao-ganjiang-tang, LGD) is used for nausea and anorexia, accompanied by excessive sweating in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Herein, we investigated the therapeutic effects of LGD using the activity-based anorexia (ABA) in a mouse model. Six-week-old female BALB/c AnNCrl mice were orally administered LGD, water, licorice decoction, dried ginger decoction, or chronic olanzapine, and their survival, body weight, food intake, and wheel activity were compared in ABA. Additionally, dopamine concentration in brain tissues was evaluated. LGD significantly reduced the number of ABA mice reaching the drop-out criterion of fatal body weight loss. However, LGD showed no significant effects on food intake and wheel activity. We found that in the LGD group the rise of the light phase activity rate inhibited body weight loss. Licorice or dried ginger alone did not improve survival rates, they only showed longer survival periods than chronic olanzapine when combined. In addition, LGD increased the dopamine concentration in the brain. The results from the present study showed that LGD improves the survival of ABA mice and its mechanism of action might be related to the alteration of dopamine concentration in the brain.
Highlights
Licorice and dried ginger decoction (LGD) is a herbal prescription, prepared by extracting two common food ingredients, licorice and dried ginger, in boiling water
The objectives of this study were to elucidate the therapeutic effects of LGD in activity-based anorexia (ABA), and to ascertain how it affected the survival of the mice
The results showed that liquiritin (11.23 ± 0.04 mg/g) and glycyrrhizin (49.51 ± 0.21 mg/g) are major constituents in LGD
Summary
Licorice and dried ginger decoction (LGD) is a herbal prescription, prepared by extracting two common food ingredients, licorice and dried ginger, in boiling water. LGD is recorded as a cure for nausea and anorexia, accompanied by excessive physical activity in Traditional Chinese Medicine (Moon et al, 1996). In the ABA, animals are provided with wheels in a restricted feeding schedule, giving them the opportunity to exercise freely. Mice and rats subjected to activity-based anorexia (ABA) become hyperactive and paradoxically anorexic (Klenotich and Dulawa, 2012). LGD administration is expected to relieve the symptoms of ABA in the mouse model, which closely mimics the condition of anorexia nervosa (AN). In traditional Chinese medicine, licorice is used for various diseases including respiratory, digestive and cardiovascular diseases by reinforcing qi, meaning life energy (Wang et al, 2020)
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