This study aimed to investigate the effects of
Hypericum perforatum
on growth and brain monoamine neurotransmitters in chronic－stressed rats. Fifteen individuals were divided into three groups including control, stressed and treated with
H. perforatum group. The rats in both stressed and the
H. perforatum groups were stressed for 7 days, and the rats in the latter group were fed with
H. perforatum for 10 days after stress. The brain tissues of the rats in all three groups were collected to analyse the content of homovanillic acid (HVA), norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA) and5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) after the experiment was finished. The indexes above were determined by the method of high pressure liquid chromatogram (HPLC). The results showed that the daily growth mass in the stressed group significantly decreased compared with the control group, while the ones of
H. perforatum group were higher than those of the stressed group. The HVA levels of the Hippocampus，striatum and prefrontal lobe in the stressed group had no significant differences compared with the control group, though there was an increase tendency in the stressed group. The stress had no significant effect on the levels of NE, DA and 5-HT. The DA levels of striatum in the
H. perforatum group were significantly higher than those in the stressed group, while DA levels of prefrontal lobe were significantly decreased compared with the stressed group. These results suggest that
H. perforatum can alleviate the growth decrease caused by stress, and can partly regulate the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain of stressed rats.
