{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T17:14:53Z","timestamp":1783530893725,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,13]],"date-time":"2025-04-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1744502400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["22207031"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22207031"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["232301420086"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["232301420086"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006407","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["22207031"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22207031"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006407","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["232301420086"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["232301420086"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Insomnia seriously affects people\u2019s health and daily life. There is a growing interest in sleep-promoting agents from natural sources. Nelumbinis Plumula (NP), a traditional Chinese medicine with dual food-medicine homology, has the effects of clearing the heart and calming the mind, showing promising efficacy in treating insomnia. In this study, the effects of NP extract, total alkaloid extract of NP, and crude polysaccharide of NP were measured in para-chlorophenylalanine-induced insomnia rats combined with the pentobarbital sodium experiment. The results indicated both total alkaloid extract and NP total extract could improve insomnia in rats, with the total alkaloid extract demonstrating a stronger effect than NP total extract. Total alkaloid extract significantly prolonged sleep duration and shortened sleep latency. Therefore, total alkaloids in NP appeared to be the main pharmacological substances that exerted sedative effect. Simultaneously, total alkaloid extract could increase the GABA level and reduce the DA level as well as affect the activities of GABRA1, DRD2, 5-HT1A, and AChE proteins. This study can lay an experimental foundation for the further development and application of NP as a remedy for treating insomnia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms26083684","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,14]],"date-time":"2025-04-14T06:18:36Z","timestamp":1744611516000},"page":"3684","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Total Alkaloid Extract of Nelumbinis Plumula Promoted Sleep in PCPA-Induced Insomnia Rats by Affecting Neurotransmitters and Their Receptor Activities"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3484-2321","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wenjun","family":"Wei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center for Chinese Medicine and Respiratory Diseases Co-Constructed by Henan Province & Education Ministry of China, Zhengzhou 450046, China"},{"name":"Henan Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine for Respiratory Disease, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongge","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hangying","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Pharmacy, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongyu","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhilei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Suxiang","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center for Chinese Medicine and Respiratory Diseases Co-Constructed by Henan Province & Education Ministry of China, Zhengzhou 450046, China"},{"name":"Henan Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine for Respiratory Disease, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"394","DOI":"10.1038\/s41588-018-0333-3","article-title":"Genome-wide analysis of insomnia in 1,331,010 individuals identifies new risk loci and functional pathways","volume":"51","author":"Jansen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Nat. 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