槟榔,槟榔的种子,是世界上最广泛消费的成瘾物质之一,仅次于尼古丁,乙醇,和咖啡因。A.Catechu的主要有效成分,槟榔林,据报道会影响中枢神经系统。鲜为人知的是,如果它可能会影响疼痛及其相关的情绪反应。在这项研究中,我们发现口服槟榔碱可减轻炎性疼痛及其诱导的抗焦虑和抗抑郁样行为。槟榔碱还增加了原始小鼠的机械伤害性阈值并减轻了抑郁样行为。在前扣带回皮质(ACC),作为伤害感受及其相关焦虑和抑郁的铰链,通过使用多电极场电位记录和全细胞膜片钳记录,我们发现槟榔碱抑制了成年小鼠ACC中诱发的突触后传递。毒蕈碱受体是ACC中槟榔碱的主要受体。我们的结果表明槟榔碱可以缓解疼痛,焦虑,在生理和病理条件下的抑郁样行为,这种新机制可能有助于未来治疗慢性疼痛及其相关的焦虑和障碍患者。
Areca nut, the seed of Areca catechu L., is one of the most widely consumed addictive substances in the world after nicotine, ethanol, and caffeine. The major effective constituent of A. catechu, arecoline, has been reported to affect the central nervous system. Less is known if it may affect pain and its related emotional responses. In this study, we found that oral application of arecoline alleviated the inflammatory pain and its induced anxiolytic and anti-depressive-like behavior. Arecoline also increased the mechanical nociceptive threshold and alleviated depression-like behavior in naïve mice. In the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which acts as a hinge of
nociception and its related anxiety and depression, by using the multi-electrode field potential recording and whole-cell patch-clamp recording, we found that the evoked postsynaptic transmission in the ACC of adult mice has been inhibited by the application of arecoline. The muscarinic receptor is the major receptor of the arecoline in the ACC. Our results suggest that arecoline alleviates pain, anxiety, and depression-like behavior in both physiological and pathological conditions, and this new mechanism may help to treat patients with chronic pain and its related anxiety and disorder in the future.