Traditional Chinese medicine, specifically Jiawei Suanzaoren Tang, demonstrates a significant therapeutic effect on people with perimenopausal insomnia characterized by yin deficiency and fire excess.
The study first enrolled 80 cases of perimenopausal insomnia with yin deficiency and fire excess type, then divided them into two groups - a control group treated with lorazepam and a treatment group given Jiawei Suanzaoren decoction over 4 weeks. Several key metrics were observed before and after the treatment, including sleep quality, hormone levels, and certain symptoms. Alongside this, the study conducted a network pharmacology analysis where they used public databases to find targets associated with Jiawei Suanzaoren Tang as well as those predicted as insomnia targets, ultimately identifying enriched gene pathways and networks. An animal study involving rats was also conducted, using 30 perimenopausal insomnia rat models, comparing the effects of normal saline, lorazepam suspension, and Jiawei Suanzaoren decoction.
In observation, the sleep condition and hormone level changes were significantly different between the treatment and control groups. The findings suggest that Jiawei Suanzaoren Tang could improve sleep by regulating the neuroactive ligand receptor interaction signaling pathway, inhibiting relevant proteins. They also observed that the decoction could significantly improve the sleep conditions of perimenopausal rats with insomnia and impact the level of specific hormone receptors in the hypothalamus. The mechanism seems to be linked to the regulation of specific hormones and the expression levels of certain receptors in the hypothalamus.
