Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea affects the immune system and increases sleep in zebrafish

Xiaohui Tan; Liping Wang; William Kojo Smith; Huayan Sun; Lingyun Long; Liyan Mao; Qiuwei Huang; Huifang Huang; Zhaomin Zhong

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1246761

Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea affects the immune system and increases sleep in zebrafish

Front Pharmacol. 2023 Nov 16:14:1246761. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1246761. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaohui Tan^#^{1

2

3}, Liping Wang^#², William Kojo Smith¹, Huayan Sun¹, Lingyun Long², Liyan Mao², Qiuwei Huang², Huifang Huang², Zhaomin Zhong¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Biology and Basic Medical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
² Guangxi Subtropical Crops Research Institute, Nanning, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Quality and Safety Control for Subtropical Fruit and Vegetable, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanning, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The importance of adequate sleep for good health cannot be overstated. Excessive light exposure at night disrupts sleep, therefore, it is important to find more healthy drinks that can promote sleep under sleep-disturbed conditions. The present study investigated the use of A. sinensis (Lour.) Spreng leaf tea, a natural product, to reduce the adverse effects of nighttime light on sleep. Here, Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea at 1.0 and 1.5 g/L significantly increased sleep time in zebrafish larvae (5-7 dpf) with light-induced sleep disturbance. Transcriptome sequencing and qRT-PCR analysis revealed a decrease in the immune-related genes, such as nfkbiab, tnfrsf1a, nfkbiaa, il1b, traf3, and cd40 in the 1.5 g/L Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea treatment group. In addition, a gene associated with sleep, bhlhe41, showed a significant decrease. Moreover, Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea suppressed the increase in neutrophils of Tg(mpo:GFP) zebrafish under sleep-disturbed conditions, indicating its ability to improve the immune response. Widely targeted metabolic profiling of the Aquilaria sinensis tea using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS) revealed flavonoids as the predominant component. Network pharmacological and molecular docking analyses suggested that the flavonoids quercetin and eupatilin in Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea improved the sleep of zebrafish by interacting with il1b and cd40 genes under light exposure at night. Therefore, the results of the study provide evidence supporting the notion that Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea has a positive impact on sleep patterns in zebrafish subjected to disrupted sleep due to nighttime light exposure. This suggests that the utilization of Aquilaria sinensis leaf tea as a potential therapeutic intervention for sleep disturbances induced by light may yield advantageous outcomes.

Keywords: Aquilaria sinensis; immune system; light exposure; sleep disturbance; zebrafish.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Special fund project of Guangxi Subtropical Crops Research Institute (Guireyan 201408), the Special project for basic scientific research of Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (Guinongke 2024YP135 and Guinongke 2021YT143), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81701347), the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, and the Science and Technology Development Fund of Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (Guinongke 2022JM04), the Special fund project of Guangxi Subtropical Crops Research Institute (Guireyan 201304). Local science and technology development fund guided by the Central Government (GuikeZY20111007).