Published in:Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1111/1440-1681.13173
ISSN:
0305-1870;
1440-1681
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Post‐traumatic stress disorder (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PTSD</jats:styled-content>) has become a major disease that threatens human health. Neurotransmitters and the amygdala are found to be critical in the development and maintenance of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PTSD</jats:styled-content>. We aim to investigate the role of glycyrrhizin in treating <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PTSD</jats:styled-content>. Contextual fear extinction and elevated plus maze test were applied to evaluate the anxiety and fear memory. Microdialysis and high‐performance liquid chromatography were used to analyze the expression of amygdala neurotransmitters in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PTSD</jats:styled-content> animal models and to verify the effects of glycyrrhizin on major neurotransmitters. The protein levels of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">TPH</jats:styled-content>2) were examined by western bolt. Glycyrrhizin treatment significantly reduced anxiety and fear memory after 1 and 7 days of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PTSD</jats:styled-content> modelling. In addition, glycyrrhizin treatment restored the circadian rhythm changes of serotonin and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">TPH</jats:styled-content>2. The present study found a significant circadian rhythm change of serotonin in the amygdala in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PTSD</jats:styled-content> rats. Besides, glycyrrhizin treatment restored the altered serotonin diurnal fluctuations, which raises important implications for <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PTSD</jats:styled-content> treatment.</jats:p>