Abstract:

【Objective】 To understand the effects and mechanism of Fructus Arctii and arctiin on promoting animal growth, cAMP PDE activity and cAMP content in skeletal muscle, plasma cAMP content, and growth performance of mouse were observed. 【Method】 ICR mice were intragastricly administered respectively with 1.00, 0.50 and 0.25 g/mouse of Fructus Arctii, 1.50, 0.75 and 0.38 mg/mouse of arctiin, and 0.75, 0.38 and 0.19 mg/mouse of theophylline which was used as a positive control. Body weight and food intake were recorded. Cyclic AMP PDE activity and cAMP content in skeletal muscle and plasma cAMP content were assayed by HPLC and ELISA. 【Result】 Food intake was significantly reduced by Fructus Arctii with 1.00 and 0.5 g and arctiin with three doses; body weight gain was noticeably increased by Fructus Arctii, arctiin and theophylline in all doses except 0.38 mg of arctiin; transform efficiency of food was extremely higher in all treated group than in control group (P＜0.05, P＜0.01 or P＜0.001). Cyclic AMP PDE activity was significantly inhibited by all doses of Fructus Arctii, arctiin and theophylline; cAMP content in skeletal muscle was markedly increased in all groups except 1.50 mg of arctiin; plasma cAMP content was significantly higher than the control group except 0.75 mg of theophylline (P＜0.05, P＜0.01 or P＜0.001). Moreover, cAMP content in skeletal muscle was correlated with cAMP PDE activity with r =-0.402 (P＜0.001); plasma cAMP concentration was correlated with cAMP concentration with r =0.553 (P＜0.001), and was correlated with cAMP PDE activity with r =-0.436 (P＞0.05). 【Conclusion】 These results suggested that mouse growth performance was promoted by Fructus Arctii and arctiin through inhibiting skeletal muscle cAMP PDE activity and increasing skeletal muscle and plasma cAMP level.

Key words: Fructus Arctii')">Fructus Arctii, arctiin, skeletal muscle, cAMP phosphodiesterase, growth performance