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Evaluation of Stress-related Behavioral and Biological Activity of Ocimum sanctum Extract in Rats

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  • Biomedical Engineering
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Abstract

Stress is an emerging and inevitable entity. Stress causes anxiety, depression, imbalance of homeostasis, hormone imbalance, and sleep disturbances that are closely related to the onset of metabolic syndrome. The objective of this study was to investigate effects of Ocimum sanctum extract (TZ-OSE) on anti-anxiety, anti-stress, and control of physiological changes due to sleep disturbance in a rat model with restraint stress and sleep disorder induced. After inducing the rat model with restraint stress, three behavioral tests were performed and blood cortisol concentration was determined. In Elevated plus maze test, the test substance TZ-OSE at dose of 200 mg/kg showed the best effect in increasing time that stayed on the open arms. In tail suspension test (TST) and forced swimming test (FST), TZ-OSE significantly reduced immobility duration time (IMT). TZ-OSE also decreased plasma cortisol concentration. In the model after inducing sleep disturbance, ELISA, Western blotting, and Immuno-histochemistry (IHC) were conducted. TZ-OSE treatment decreased plasma cortisol, norepinephrine, glucose, and acylated ghrelin concentrations in the rat model with sleep disorders induced. Decreases of melatonin and leptin levels in the plasma of the rat model with sleep disorders induced were increased by TZ-OSE treatment. Finally, TZ-OSE treatment decreased metabolism-related markers (p-AMPK, Glut-4, p-ACC) in stomach and muscle tissues and decreased the expression of cortisol in adrenal gland tissues. Taken together, these results suggest that TZ-OSE can decrease anxiety, depression, and stress in vivo, regulate sleep-related factors, and control energy metabolism index factors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Technology development Program(S2449517) funded by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS, Korea).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Hannam University, Daejeon, 34054, Korea

    Kyung Jo Jo, Gun He Nam, Ye Seul Park, Hye Won Kawk & Young Min Kim

  2. Teazen Co., Ltd., Haenam, 59017, Korea

    Jong Tae Kim, Won Hee Choi, Seung Hee Jang & Min Jeong Kim

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  1. Kyung Jo Jo
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Disclosure statement We declare no conflicts of interest associated with this manuscript. Animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee for Animal Experimentation, Hannam University, Daejeon, Korea (approval number: HNU 2017-6) and no informed consent was required for this study.

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Jo, K.J., Nam, G.H., Park, Y.S. et al. Evaluation of Stress-related Behavioral and Biological Activity of Ocimum sanctum Extract in Rats. Biotechnol Bioproc E 25, 170–180 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-019-0365-2

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