Research on Hypnotic and Anticonvulsant Activities of Total Alkaloids in Leaves of Eucommia ulmoides

Abstract Objective To study the hypnotic and anticonvulsant activities of the leaves of Eucommia ulmoides (LEU), the total alkaloids were extracted from LEU using water-acid method. Methods Mice were divided into five groups, including groups contained total alkaloids in three different doses, negative and positive control groups. Direct hypnotic experiment in mice, pentobarbital sodium synergistic experiment, and anticonvulsant experiment were used. The numbers of spontaneous activities, sleep rate, sleep latency, sleep time, convulsion rate, and convulsion latency of the mice were recorded and analyzed. Results The total alkaloids from LEU could increase the sleep rate, significantly lengthen the sleep time, and shorten the sleep latency of mice. Even the low dose of total alkaloids (0.33 g/kg) showed significantly different activities with negative control group (physiological saline) with the synergistic effect of the superthreshold dose of pentobarbital sodium. Furthermore, the total alkaloids efficiently inhibited the convulsion caused by nikethamide. Conclusion The total alkaloids from LEU have the excellent sedative, hypnotic, and anticonvulsant activities in mice, with high safety and little drug side effects. Therefore, they have the protential development prospects in sedative-hypnotic drugs.