Effects of total flavonoid extracted from Xiaobuxin-Tang on local field potentials of the frontal cortexin mice

To investigate the pharmacological mechanism through which total flavonoids extracted from Xiaobuxin-Tang (XBXT-2) affects neural network activities in the frontal cortex by focusing on the effects of XBXT-2 on the cortical field potentials in the frontal association cortex (FrA) in mice.

Cortical electrodes were implanted into the skull of C57 BL/6J mice targeting the FrA. After a 7-day recovery period, the mice were administered XBXT-2 intragastrically at a dose of 100 mg/kg, and 1 hour later, local field potential (LFP) in the FrA were recorded for 30 minutes. Spectral analysis of the data was performed using Neuro Explorer software. Changes in the power spectral density of α, β, θ, γ, and δ frequency bands before and after drug administration were analyzed using GraphPad Prism 10.3. Phase-amplitude coupling of θ and γ oscillations was analyzed using Matlab 2021 software.

It was found that the oral administration of XBXT-2 significantly suppressed high-frequency γ oscillations while simultaneously enhancing θ, β, α, and δ oscillations in FrA of mice compared to the control. Furthermore, XBXT-2 treatment markedly strengthened the phase-amplitude coupling between θ and γ oscillations.

XBXT-2 possibly affects emotional and cognitive functions by modulating neural network activity in FrA and enhancing θ-γ phase-amplitude coupling in mice.