saponarin and Disease-Models--Animal

Treatment of sleep disorders promotes the long-term use of commercially available sleep inducers that have several adverse effects, including addiction, systemic fatigue, weakness, loss of concentration, headache, and digestive problems. Therefore, we aimed to limit these adverse effects by investigating a natural product, the extract of the Hibiscus syriacus Linnaeus flower (HSF), as an alternative treatment. In the electric footshock model, we measured anxiety and assessed the degree of sleep improvement after administering HSF extract. In the restraint model, we studied the sleep rate using PiezoSleep, a noninvasive assessment system. In the pentobarbital model, we measured sleep improvement and changes in sleep-related factors. Our first model confirmed the desirable effects of HSF extract and its active constituent, saponarin, on anxiolysis and Wake times. HSF extract also increased REM sleep time. Furthermore, HSF extract and saponarin increased the expression of cortical GABA

Topics: Animals; Apigenin; Cerebral Cortex; Corticosterone; Disease Models, Animal; Electroencephalography; Glucosides; Hibiscus; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Inbred ICR; Pentobarbital; Plant Extracts; Preoptic Area; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, GABA-A; Sleep; Sleep Aids, Pharmaceutical; Sleep Wake Disorders; Stress, Psychological

It has been reported that barley leaves possess beneficial properties such as antioxidant, hypolipidemic, antidepressant, and antidiabetic. Interestingly, barley sprouts contain a high content of saponarin, which showed both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. In this study, we evaluated the effect of barley sprouts on alcohol-induced liver injury mediated by inflammation and oxidative stress. Raw barley sprouts were extracted, and quantitative and qualitative analyses of its components were performed. The mice were fed a liquid alcohol diet with or without barley sprouts for four weeks. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells were used to study the effect of barley sprouts on inflammation. Alcohol intake for four weeks caused liver injury, evidenced by an increase in serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels. The accumulation of lipid in the liver was also significantly induced, whereas the glutathione (GSH) level was reduced. Moreover, the inflammation-related gene expression was dramatically increased. All these alcohol-induced changes were effectively prevented by barley sprouts treatment. In particular, pretreatment with barley sprouts significantly blocked inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7. This study suggests that the protective effect of barley sprouts against alcohol-induced liver injury is potentially attributable to its inhibition of the inflammatory response induced by alcohol.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Antioxidants; Apigenin; Biomarkers; Cell Survival; Dietary Supplements; Disease Models, Animal; Fatty Liver, Alcoholic; Glucosides; Hordeum; Inflammation Mediators; Lipopolysaccharides; Liver; Macrophage Activation; Macrophages; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Oxidative Stress; Plant Extracts; RAW 264.7 Cells; Seedlings