%0 Journal Article
%T Psychoimmunological effects of dioscorea in ovariectomized rats: role of anxiety level
%A Ying-Jui Ho
%A Ching-Fu Wang
%A Wen-Yu Hsu
%A Ting Tseng
%A Cheng-Chin Hsu
%A Mei-Ding Kao
%A Yuan-Feen Tsai
%J Annals of General Psychiatry
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1744-859x-6-21
%X One month after ovariectomy, female Wistar rats were screened in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) test to measure anxiety levels and divided into low anxiety (LA) and high anxiety (HA) groups, which were then given dioscorea (250, 750, or 1500 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage for 27 days and were tested in the EPM on day 23 of administration and in the forced swim test (FST) on days 24 and 25, then 3 days later, the brain was removed and IL-2 levels measured.Compared to sham-operated rats, anxiety behavior in the EPM was increased in half of the OVX rats. After chronic dioscorea treatment, a decrease in anxiety and IL-2 levels was observed in the HA OVX rats. Despair behavior in the FST was inhibited by the highest dosage of dioscorea.These results show that OVX-induced anxiety and changes in neuroimmunological function in the cortex are reversed by dioscorea treatment. Furthermore, individual differences need to be taken into account when psychoneuroimmunological issues are measured and the EPM is a useful tool for determining anxiety levels when examining anxiety-related issues.Anxiety and depression are major symptoms in postmenopausal women. Decreased blood levels of sex hormones are thought to be involved in these disorders [1], as postmenopausal syndrome is significantly improved by hormone replacement therapy, especially by a combined estrogen-progesterone regimen [2]. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) has recently been implicated as a modulator of neuronal function [3]. Pawlak et al have reported that IL-2 mRNA levels in the striatum and prefrontal cortex are relevant to emotional behavior in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) test [4,5] and that striatal microinjection of IL-2 causes an increase in the open arm time in the EPM test [6]. There is evidence that IL-2 is involved in various emotional behaviors [7] and that systemic administration of IL-2 results in anxiogenic activity [8]. In addition, IL-2/15R¦Â knockout mice exhibit decreased levels of anxiety behavior in the EPM test comp
%U http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/6/1/21