Skip Navigation



eCAM Advance Access published online on October 18, 2007
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nem070
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lee, B.
Right arrow Articles by Shim, I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lee, B.
Right arrow Articles by Shim, I.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© 2007 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Inhibitory Effects of Coptidis rhizoma and Berberine on Cocaine-induced Sensitization

Bombi Lee1, Chae Ha Yang2, Dae-Hyun Hahm3, Eun Sang Choe4, Hye-Jung Lee3, Kwang-Ho Pyun5 and Insop Shim5

1Department of Neurobiology/Division of Neuroscience, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, 2Department of Physiology, College of Oriental Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu, 3Department of Oriental Medical Science, Graduate School of East-West Medical Science, Kyung Hee University, Suwon, 4Division of Biological Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan and 5Department of Integrative Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, South Korea

Substantial evidence suggests that the behavioral and reinforcing effects of cocaine can be mediated by the central dopaminergic systems. Repeated injections of cocaine produce an increase in locomotor activity and the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the main dopaminergic areas. Protoberberine alkaloids affect neuronal functions. Coptidis rhizoma (CR) and its main compound, berberine (BER) reduced the dopamine content in the central nervous system. In order to investigate the effects of CR or BER on the repeated cocaine-induced neuronal and behavioral alterations, we examined the influence of CR or BER on the repeated cocaine-induced locomotor activity and the expression of TH in the brain by using immunohistochemistry. Male SD rats were given repeated injections of saline or cocaine hydrochloride (15 mg/kg, i.p. for 10 consecutive days) followed by one challenge injection on the 4th day after the last daily injection. Cocaine challenge (15 mg/kg, i.p) produced a larger increase in locomotor activity and expression of TH in the central dopaminergic areas. Pretreatment with CR (50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o.) and BER (200 mg/kg, p.o.) 30 min before the daily injections of cocaine significantly inhibited the cocaine-induced locomotor activity as well as TH expression in the central dopaminergic areas. Our data demonstrate that the inhibitory effects of CR and BER on the repeated cocaine-induced locomotor activity were closely associated with the reduction of dopamine biosynthesis and post-synaptic neuronal activity. These results suggest that CR and BER may be effective for inhibiting the behavioral effects of cocaine by possibly modulating the central dopaminergic system.

Keywords: cocaine – berberine – Coptidis rhizome – locomotor activity – tyrosine hydroxylase – ventral tegmental area

For reprints and all correspondence: Insop Shim, PhD, Department of Integrative Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-Dong, Seocho-Ku, Seoul 137-701, South Korea. Tel: 82-2-590-2971; Fax: 82-2-592-6359; E-mail: ishim{at}catholic.ac.kr

Received May 11, 2006; accepted April 26, 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.