Processed Aconite Root Prevents Cold-Stress-Induced Hypothermia and Immuno-Suppression in Mice

Abstract

Processed aconite root (PA) is a crude drug used in traditional Chinese or Japanese medicine to generate heat in interior body and dispel cold. We evaluated the effects of PA on hypothermia and reduction in the activity of natural killer (NK) cells in mice exposed to chronic cold stress. Male mice were reared at 4°C, and powdered PA was administered for 10 d as a food additive. Core body temperature of mice significantly decreased by approximately 1°C after rearing in a cold environment, and PA administration significantly restored the reduction in core body temperature in a dose-dependent manner. After 10 d, splenic NK-cell activity of cold-stressed mice was significantly reduced, and the reduction was dose-dependently recovered by PA administration. An aconitine-type alkaloid fraction prepared from PA was ineffective when administered to cold-stressed mice, and the thermogenic effect on hypothermic mice was present in the fraction containing low-molecular-weight compounds without alkaloids. In cold-stressed mice, the weight of brown adipose tissue (BAT) and uncoupling protein (UCP)-1 level in BAT increased, whereas the weight of white adipose tissue decreased. The increase in UCP-1 level in BAT of cold-stressed mice was further augmented by PA treatment. These results indicate that PA exhibited a thermogenic effect on hypothermia induced by cold stress in mice by additional upregulation of UCP-1 level in BAT, which was already enhanced by hypothermia, and that the active ingredients present in PA are nonalkaloidal low-molecular-weight compounds.

The Association between Yang-Deficient Constitution and Clinical Outcome of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy on People Living with HIV

“…Yang deficiency Syndrome indeed appeared in many emergency and serious diseases, including the late stage of AIDS. Processed aconite root (a Chinese medicine) was shown to prevent cold-stress-induced hypothermia and immunosuppression in mice [12]. Higenamine and its enantiomer, the active ingredients of aconite root, reduced iNOS expression and NO production, suppressed inflammatory reactions, and increased survival rates in LPS-treated mice [13, 14].…”

Metformin and Berberine Prevent Olanzapine-Induced Weight Gain in Rats

“…This is the first evidence that adjunctive berberine or metformin treatment significantly prevents olanzapine-induced brown fat weight loss. The weight of rodent brown fat is shown to be associated with changes in core body temperature [50]. Our tissue weight data strongly suggest the mechanism of action for metformin or berberine occurs by increasing energy expenditure or directly reducing energy storage, rather than inhibition of energy intake.…”

Circadian aspects of hyperthermia in mice induced by Aconitum napellus

“…[49] Core BT in untreated mice was significantly decreased by about 1°C by day 5 of the cold exposure when compared with mice maintained at normal room temperature (24°C). However, in mice receiving Acn added to a standard murine powdered chow available ad libitum , the BT reduction was significantly counteracted in a dose-dependent manner (0.063, 0.25 and 1.0 g/kg/day were tested) such that there was no significant difference for any dose on any treatment day from the normal mice (the Acn 1.0 g dose actually showed significantly higher BT than normal controls on days 5, 7 and 9 after cold initiation).…”

“…Assuming that the mice were kept in dark at night and with lights on during the day, the study was most likely carried out in the morning (e.g., between 08:00 and 12:00 hours or 02–06 HALO). In the study by Makino et al .,[49] they reported that the mice were housed under a 12-hour L–12 hour D schedule with L-on from 07:00 to 19:00 hours and BT was measured between 13:00 and 15:00 hours, which would be in the middle of the daily resting span (06–09 HALO). Both of these studies were thus carried out at only one of the six different circadian times that we used in our study in order to consider the well-known circadian variation in mouse body temperature (i.e., BT reaches its minima during mid-L and maxima during mid-D).…”