Hypnotic Effects of A Novel Anti-Insomnia Formula on Drosophila Insomnia Model

• Published in: Chinese journal of integrative medicine Vol. 22; no. 5; pp. 335 - 343
• Main Author: 高俊熙 官志文 余兆龙 李国英 刘碧珊 陈浩然 荣润国 冯国培 梁秉中
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2016
• Subjects: Animals; Caffeine; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Disease Models, Animal; Drosophila melanogaster - drug effects; Drosophila melanogaster - physiology; Hypnotics and Sedatives - pharmacology; Hypnotics and Sedatives - therapeutic use; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mutation - genetics; Original Article; Potassium Channels - genetics; Sleep - drug effects; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - drug therapy; Wakefulness - drug effects; 催眠; 公式; 夜间活动; 失眠症; 时间计算; 果蝇; 模型; 睡眠时间; hypnotic effects; caffeine; Chinese medicine; Anemarrhena asphodeloides; Ziziphus jujube; Poria cocos; Polygala tenuifolia; Polygonum multiflorum; Triticum aestivu
• ISSN: 1672-0415; 1993-0402
• DOI: 10.1007/s11655-014-1625-1

Objective： To assess the biological effects of the six-herb mixture Anti-lnsomia Formula （AIF） extract using caffeine-induced insomnia Drosophila model and short-sleep mutants. Methods： Caffeine- induced insomnia wild-type Drosophila and short-sleep mutant flies minisleep （runs） and Hyperkinetic Y（Hk Y） were used to assess the hypnotic effects of the AIF in vivo. The night time activity, the amount of night time sleep and the number of sleep bouts were determined using Drosophila activity monitoring system. Sleep was defined as any period of uninterrupted behavioral immobility （0 count per minute） lasting 〉 5 min. Night time sleep was calculated by summing up the sleep time in the dark period. Number of sleep bouts was calculated by counting the number of sleep episodes in the dark period. Results： AIF at the dosage of 50 mg/mL, effectively attenuated caffeine-induced wakefulness （P〈0.01） in wild-type Canton-S flies as indicated by the reduction of the sleep bouts, night time activities and increase of the amount of night time sleep. AIF also significantly reduced sleeping time of short-sleep Hk y mutant flies （P〈0.01）. However, AIF did not produce similar effect in mns mutants. Conclusion： AIF might be able to rescue the abnormal condition caused by mutated modulatory subunit of the tetrameric potassium channel, but not rescuing the abnormal nerve firing caused by Shaker gene mutation. This study provides the scientific evidence to support the use of AIF in Chinese medicine for promoting sleep quality in insomnia.