Pharmacological studies of nutritive and tonic crude drugs on fatigue in mice.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to clarify acute anti-fatiguing effects of three crude liquid drug preparations (S1-S3), containing almost the same amounts of Ginseng Radix, Epimedii Herba and Agkistrodon Japonicae, with each differentially containing an additional 11, 13 or 15 crude drugs. After preloading forced swimming or tetrabenazine (TBZ: 50, 100 mg/kg, i.p.), each of the S1-S3 preparations applied orally (0.1 ml/10 g) significantly increased the duration times of swimming together with decreased total duration times of immobility during swimming. These effects peaked 60 min postinjection with the following decreasing order of effectiveness: S3 > S2 > S1. The same order of efficacy was also found for increased locomotor activity and decreased durations of swimming immobility after TBZ. After pretreatment with 200 mg/kg TBZ preparations S1-S3 also increased the numbers of jumping on a hot plate with greatly reduced latency. Without preloading the forced swimming, S1-S3 did not have any effect on jumping and its latency, but both S2 and S3 significantly, but more weakly, as compared to those after its preloading, decreased the immobility times. These results indicate that these crude preparations may cause tonic effects and so far tested, these effects seem to be more effective on subjects fatigued with physical and/or mental works than an normal subjects.