Moringa oleifera Lam Seed Oil Augments Pentobarbital-Induced Sleeping Behaviors In Mice Via GABAergic Systems.

Moringa oleifera Lam. (MO), which is widely consumed as both food and herbal medicine in tropical and subtropical regions, has a wide spectrum of healthbenefits. Yet, whether the oil obtained from MO seeds could affect (improve) the sleep activity, it remains unclear. Herein, we used locomotor activity, pentobarbital-induced sleeping, and pentetrazol-induced convulsions test to examine sedative-hypnotic effects (SHE) of MO oil (MOO) and explored the underlying mechanisms. Besides, the main components of MOO like Oleic acid, -Sitosterol and Stigmasterol were also evaluated. The results showed that they possessed good SHE. Except for Oleic acid and Stigmasterol, they could significantly elevate g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and reduce glutamic acid (Glu) levels in the hypothalamus of mice. Moreover, SHE was blocked by picrotoxin, flumazeniland bicuculline, except for Oleic acid, which could not be antagonized by picrotoxin. Molecular mechanisms showed that MOO and -Sitosterol significantly up-regulated the amount of protein level expression of Glu decarboxylase-65 (GAD65) and a1-subunit of GABAA receptors in the hypothalamus of mice, not affecting GAD67, g2-subunits. These data indicated that MOO modulates sleep architectures via activation of the GABAA-ergic systems.