|
KMID : 0352719760010010033
|
|
Journal of Ginseng Research
1976 Volume.1 No. 1 p.33 ~ p.50
|
|
|
A Study on the Psychopharmacological Actions of Panax ginseng in Animals
|
|
Hong, SaAck/洪思岳
Chang, HyunKap/Kim, MyungSuk/張鉉甲/金明石
|
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
As a continuation of series of works on the pharmacological actions of Panax ginseng, three kinds of behavioral experiments were carried out using rats and vice.
The occurrence of component patterns of general behavioral activity in rat was .examined by visual scanning using the time sample method in the ad lib. and the hunger deprivated situation.
In normal ad lib. situation, the eating behavior of rat treated with 100mg1kg
of ginseng saponin was significantly more frequent than that of saline control rat at night and throughout the 24 kr period. But grooming was less frequent thna she control at the sane period.
In the hunger situation followed by 90^120 hrs of food deprivation, the loco-motive activity and rearing were significantly more often and sleeping was less frequent in the two dosage groups of ginseng saponin (10 and 100 mg/kg) than in the saline grasp through out the observation period.
Training of avoidance conditioning in rats was done in a two-way shuttle box. The number of conditioned response (CR) in which the animal avoided sucessfully .an electric shock by running in to the other compartment of the box was regarded .as an index of learnixg perfmmaxce.
Gixseng saponix in doses of 2.5 mg/kg produced a sigxr f cantly increased CR in total avoidance trials compared with the control. Although other dosage groups of ginseng saponin (5.0. 50mg and 100 mg/kg) showed no sigxificant statistical .difference from the normal control, it tended to increase in CR in the ginseng groups than in the control.
An aggressive behavior in mice was observed in a shock-generating fighting box. The occurrence of reflexive fighting between two animals induced by an electric shock applied to the feet was checked as an index of aggression.
The occurrences of reciprocal fightixg episode immediately after the onset, of the shock was significantly decreased in the dosage group of 400 mg/kg ginseng saponin, but it did not differ in the 100 mg/kg group of ginseng saponin from .the control group. The dose. 400 mg/kg of ginseng saponin, inhibited fighting behavior in more than 80% of the pairs, but 100 mg/kg of ginseng did inhibit -it in less than 20% of the pairs.
Although so called a tonic effect of Panax ginseng can be a total effect of the actions on the various organs, we have been thinking that this effect may be due t(> its effect on the central nervous system. With this thought in mind, we have studied on the effects on CNS from various points of view.
The studies on the psychopharmacological actions of ginseng which we have carried out include three fields: a relationship between ginseng and general behaviors, a relationship between ginseng and learning, and a relationship between ginseng and emotional activities.
Our first report on the studies on the relationship between ginseng and general behaviors was published in 1972. We fed on rats the feed containing the alcohol extract of Panax ginseng for a comparatively long period of time and then observed their activities for 24 hours. In that study we observed that the ginseng-fed rat group showed no difference in their activities during the daytime compared with the control group.
However, we observed that during the night the sleeping time decreased, that the rats ate more feeds, and that the behaviors increased when they were fed with the ginseng extract. On the basis of this evidence it is assumed that ginseng has the CNS stimulating action which increases the behavioral activity by elevating the level of sensation.
In 1973 Shim and Ohl) observed a decrease in the sleeping time in the rats fed with ginseng saponins and an increase in the behavioral activity. And therefore these results support our suggestion. In 1974 when we thoroughly studied on the effects of ginseng saponin on the voluntary activities of rats and mice using the light interception apparatus, we found that the activivies of the ginseng-fed group increased, compared with that of the control group in the doses below 50 mg/kg and that, on the contrary, the activities decreased in the large doses over 100 mg/kg. These results show that the activities can vary depending on the saponin doses administered. We also observed the similar tendency in the experiments of general behavioral activities.
In these two studies, however, only single dose of ginseng saponin was given to rats, followed by an observation in a short period of time. And therefore this is contrary to the traditional method of administering ginseng to humans. Since the behaviors in daytime were observed and the. experimental animals were nocturnal animals, the results may not reflect adequate responses. For these reasons the behaviors observed may not be so normal as the general behavioral activities of rats and mice.
In the present study, therefore, we observed´ behavioral activities after the eight-day administration of ginseng saponins in order to diminish these incomplete conditions in the previous reports. We also observed the alteration in the general behavioral activities in the animals given with ginseng for a long period of time in the hunger situation caused by food deprivation, as compared with the normal control group.
Studies on the relationship between ginseng and learning activity were first con-ducted by the authors3). In that study the conditioned response (CR), which: is an index of learning of the conditioned avoidance(CAR), of the ginseng-administered rat group was observed as compard with the control group. It was shown that CR of the ginseng-administered group was increased as compared with the control group, and this indicates an increase of CAR achievement and a decrease of disappearance rate, suggesting that -ginseng stimulated the conditioned avoidance response.
Change) (one of the authors) observed in his experiments that the ginseng-administered mice group performed better than the control group in the learning performance in water. And he suggested that ginseng might enhance the learning activity by stimulating the central nervous system.
These two experiments cited above appear to have some shortcomings: the sample used in the conditioned avoidance response test was ginseng extract; the doses of the extract were inaccurate because it was mixed with the feeds; The performance after the only one dose in the learning performance of the mice in water was observed. In order to diminish these shortcomings, therefore, our experiment used ginseng saponin instead of the extract and a method of repeated administrations of the saponin instead of a single dose, obtaining relatively accurate values of CR, the index of learning CAR.
In our previous studies of the relationship between ginseng and the emotional activity, we observed primitive physiological responses such as the changes of defecation and urination of mice in CAR process and the spontaneous activity in an open field. On the contrary to this, Nabata13l et al. reported that the reflex fighting activity was significantly decreased in the mice group which was given 4000mg/kg of ginseng saponin and an electric shock. In this study we attempted to observe in detail the effects of ginseng on the emotional activity of mice by checking an aggressive behavior, a more concrete aspect of the emotional activity.
|
|
|
KEYWORD
|
|
|
|
|
|
FullTexts / Linksout information
|
|
|
|
|
|
Listed journal information
|
|
|
|