Semen Ziziphi spinosae (
Suanzaoren in China) and Radix et Rhizoma Salviae miltiorrhizae (Danshen in China) are conventional herbal drugs in
traditional Chinese medicine and have been used widely for the treatment of
insomnia. In the present study, the
sedative-
hypnotic activity of the active fractions extracted from
Suanzaoren and Danshen were studied using the method of
pentobarbital-induced sleep in the mouse model. Qualitative analysis of the standardized extracts was carried out by HPLC-DAD. The results showed that the water extract of
Suanzaoren (SWE) (400 and 800 mg/kg body wt.) and the
ether extract of Danshen (DTT) (300 and 600 mg/kg body wt.) can shorten sleep latency significantly, increase sleeping time and prolong movement
convalescence time induced by
sodium pentobarbital (55 mg/kg body wt.) administration in mice. Furthermore, the combination of SWE and DTT showed significant synergistic effect (p<0.05) in decreasing sleep latency and increasing sleeping time, but not in prolonging the movement
convalescence time, which might be helpful for energy recovery in the treatment of
insomnia. The results suggest that SWE, DTT, and the combination of SWE and DTT possess significant
sedative-
hypnotic activity, which supports the popular use of
Suanzaoren and Danshen for treatment of
insomnia and provide the basis for new
drug discovery. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the combination of SWE and DTT may be preferable for the treatment of
insomnia.