Sedative and hypnotic effects of Schisandra Chinensis baill lignans

A multiple functional mice spontaneous activities recorder was applied to observe effects of SCL on mice spontaneous activities; Several classical methods were used to observe synergic hypnotic effects of SCL with pentobarbital sodium; Effects of SCL on GABA and Glu contents in brain tissue of mice were measured by using automatic microplate reader for ELISA to explore the mechanism. SCL could (1) reduce the number of in spontaneous activities in mice Significantly; (2) increase the number of sleep induced by pentobarbital sodium under the threshold sleep dosage in mice; (3) delay duration of sleep induced by pentobarbital sodium at the suprathreshold sleep dosage in mice, and shorten the latency of sleep; (4) reduce the content of Glu in the brain tissue of mice significantly. The results suggest that SCL could produce sedative and hypnotic effects on mice through reducing the Glu content in mice brain tissue.