Effect of functional dietary supplement on rats suffering from chronic emotional stress

The modulation effects of functional dietary supplement on the behavioral indexes,serum cortisol and plasma catecholamine levels in rats suffering from chronic emotional stress were observed in this paper. Rats were randomly allocated to four groups:normal group,model group,and two doses of treatment groups.Chronic emotional stress models were established by empty bottles stimulation. Two treatment groups were respectively received gavage in the corresponding dosage of functional dietary supplement for 7 d. Normal group and model group were administered the equal amount of distilled water. After the administration,the behavior changes of the rats were assessed with the elevated plus-maze test and the serum cortisol and plasma catecholamine levels were also determined. Compared with the normal group,the percentage of time spent and entrance frequency in open arms of rats in model group was decreased(p<0.01). Meanwhile,the serum cortisol and plasma catecholamine levels were significantly higher than control group(p<0.01). Compared with the model group,the percentage of time spent and entrance frequency in open arms were increased significantly(p<0.01) in two doses of treatment groups,while the serum cortisol levels were significantly lower(p<0.05) and a recovery in the levels of plasma catecholamine was also observed. These results showed that functional dietary supplement would alleviate not only the abnormal behavior but also the changes of HPA axis and SNS axis caused by chronic emotional stress.