ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the effect of Chinese herbs most used in rheumatoid arthritis such as diaphoretics (ephedra), wind-expelling herbs (monkshood), blood activating drugs (angelica) and compound mixture in treating adjuvant arthritis, and study the compatibility law. Methods AA rats in groups were treated with ephedra-cinnamon twig mixture, monkshood-aconitum mixture, angelicachuanxiong mixture, herbs compound mixture, low dose herbs compound mixture which is composed of above-mentioned herbs and semblable function herbs. Compare with normal group, model group, tripterygium wilfordii hook (TWH) group, TNF-? and PGE2 level of hindpaw were measured by ELISA and spectrophotometer. Weight index of immune organs were measured to study the effect of different functional ingredient groups and complex on immune function. Result The hinderpaw PGE2 level and TNF-? level of model group was higher than normal group (P