Study of the sedative and hypnotic effects of total alkaloids in male Eucommia flowers

To study the sedative and hypnotic effects of Eucommia flowers, the total alkaloids were extracted from male Eucommia flowers using a water-acid method. Direct sedative and hypnotic experiments in mice, pentobarbital sodium synergistic experiments and anticonvulsant experiments were used to record and analyze the number of independent actions of the mice. Results showed that the total alkaloids of male Eucommia flowers could directly induce the mice to fall asleep, significantly reduce the number of independent actions, and also show effective synergistic operation with subthreshold or suprathreshold dose of pentobarbital sodium. In addition, the total alkaloids could effectively reduce convulsion rate and prolong convulsion latency. These findings intensely indicate that the total alkaloids of male Eucommia flowers have excellent sedative-hypnotic and anticonvulsant effects in mice, with little drug residual and high safety, therefore, they have promising development prospects in sedative-hypnotic drugs.