Evaluating the effects of acute medication with Bupleurum Plus Dragon Bone and Oyster Shell Decoction on attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder－An animal model study

• Main Authors: Tzu-Nung Tai, 戴子穠
• Other Authors: Meng-Li Tsai
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/47735409479030269270

碩士 === 國立宜蘭大學 === 生物機電工程學系碩士班 === 104 === With a clear upward trend in the prevalence of Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder（ADHD）, more and more out-patients choose to go to Chinese medicine clinics for treatment. This suggests that Taiwanese people now have higher confidence in treating ADHD with traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） and are mostly satisfied with the outcome. The diagnosis（also referred to as “pattern”）and treatment of TCM are often considered to lack scientific evidence. Thus, we attempted to evaluate the efficacy of a TCM formulas using the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) model, which shows typical attention deficit and overactive behaviors early in life and is commonly used as a model for ADHD. We wanted to know if TCM treatment in SHRs lead to positive outcomes similar to what is seen in the clinical setting, in the hope of further elucidate the mechanism of TCM function in this animal model. For SHRs, symptoms of ADHD and significant changes in brain volume start to show at the age of four to five weeks, comparable to six to eight years old in humans. SHRs at this age range were used to test the effect of Bupleurum plus dragon bone and oyster shell decoction（BDOD）. Two dosages were tested: the original dosage （1 liang equals to 13.75g）, and the low dosage（1 liang equals to 3.75g）, which has been widely used clinically. A transparent box was designed for open field tests and Xbox kinetics was used for recording both before and after BDOD treatment by gavage . Similar to clinical observations for ADHD patients, young SHRs often show signs of anxiety in addition to ADHD-like symptoms. Therefore, we also measured anxiety-like behavior . Our results showed that, unlike its reported clinical efficacy, BDOD did not reduce the ADHD-related symptoms in SHRs. However, comparing 4-week-old SHRs treated with the two dosages of BDOD, animals treated with the original dosage showed increases in the total distance traveled and the total area explored. A plausible explanation is that the treatment resulted in the alleviation of anxiety, rather than the worsening of hyperactivity. The five-week-old SHRs showed no significant changes. Another likely reason for the discrepancy between our results from what is seen in clinical setting is that we couldn’t make proper diagnoses for the SHRs as we could for humans, making it difficult for accurate prescription.