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Background: Papaver rhoeas plant is a one-year plant that is used in treatment of sleep disorders, cough, and peritonitis. It has analgesic and lenitive effects in human. In this survey, the effect of Papaver rhoeas distillate and tension were studied on the amount of memory and learning, corticosterone, and anorexia.
Materials and methods: In this empirical study, 64 mature male mice were randomly divided into 8 groups, including control group, witness and empirical ones, in which distillate of Papaver rhoeas is injected via peritoneum in the dose of 15, 30, 60 mg/kg weights of body in the period of one week. The empirical group was under tension for half an hour after injection. At the beginning and the end of the experiment, we were taking blood of animals and the value of corticosterone was measured and T-shape labyrinth is used in order to measure the amount of memory strength and learning.
Results: Papaver rhoeas distillate significantly decreased anorexia and increased the corticosterone and amount of learning in empirical group in comparison with control group (p<0.05, p<0.001, respectively). Moreover, stress results in significantly increasing of corticosterone value and anorexia, and decreasing of memory and learning ability in positive control that received stress (p<0.05).
 Conclusion: Tension- related effects of corticosterone, is a central effect acts via hypothalamus and pituitary gland by secretion of CRF and ACTH, respectively. Increasing effect of corticosterone in the essence is a peripheral effect by direct effect on adrenal gland.