ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical curative effect of modified Shaofu Zhuyutang on pelvic pain of endometriosis （EMT） with syndrome of cold congeal and blood stasis and the influence on neural angiogenesis. MethodA total of 110 cases were divided into a control group （54 cases） and an observation group （56 cases） by the random number table method. Patients in the control group took Aifu Nuangong pills with 6 g/time and 2 times/day. Patients in the observation group took modified Shaofu Zhuyutang with 1 dose/day. Course of treatment continued for 3 menstrual cycles. Dysmenorrhea， other symptoms and signs of pelvic pain， and the EMT health profile-5 （EHP-5） for patients with syndrome of cold congeal and blood stasis and EMT were scored before and after treatment. The levels of peripheral blood nerve growth factor （NGF）， substance P （SP）， calcitonin gene-related peptide （CGRP）， brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF）， soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase（sFlt-1）， vascular endothelial growth factor （VEGF）， matrix metalloproteinase-9 （MMP-9）， and insulin growth factor-1 （IGF-1） were detected before and after treatment. The levels of prostaglandin E2 （PGE2）， cyclooxygenase-2 （COX-2）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， and other inflammatory factors were detected before and after treatment. The pain medication usage and recurrence were recorded. ResultThe scores of dysmenorrhea， symptoms of pelvic pain symptoms （non-menstrual pelvic pain， dyspareunia， anal falling pain， and defecation pain， etc.）， and signs of pelvic pain （pelvic tenderness and sacral ligament tender nodules） in the observation group were lower than those in the control group （P<0.01）. The disappearance rates of dysmenorrhea， pelvic tenderness， and sacral ligament tender nodules were 67.35% （33/49）， 73.33% （33/45）， and 77.27% （34/44） in the observation group， which were all higher than 45.83% （22/48）， 48.84% （21/43）， and 52.27% （23/44） in the control group. The difference was statistically significant （χ2=4.571， χ2=5.565， χ2=6.026， P<0.05）. The scores of EHP-5 and syndrome of cold congeal and blood stasis in the observation group were lower than those in the control group （P<0.01）. The levels of VEGF， MMP-9， IGF-1， NGF， SP， CGRP， and BDNF in the observation group were lower than those in the control group （P<0.01）， while the level of sFlt-1 was higher than that in the control group （P<0.01）. The levels of PGE2， COX-2， TNF-α， and IL-6 in the observation group were lower than those in the control group （P<0.01）. The total effective rate of the observation group was 92.45% （49/53）， which was higher than 76.00% （38/50） of the control group （χ2=5.307， P<0.05）. After 6 months of follow-up， the recurrence rate in the observation group was 30.61% （15/49）， which was lower than 52.63% （20/38） in the control group （χ2=4.315， P<0.05）. The average of taking ibuprofen sustained-release capsules in the control group was higher than that in the observation group per menstrual period （P<0.01）. ConclusionModified Shaofu Zhuyutang treated pelvic pain of EMT with syndrome of cold congeal and blood stasis by regulating the mechanism of neural angiogenesis， reducing pain， and promoting the disappearance of related pains， thus improving the quality of life. Shaofu Zhuyutang has a better clinical effect than Aifu Nuangong pills and has a low recurrence rate.
ABSTRACT
Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP) and Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine(BATMAN-TCM) were searched for the effective components and targets of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction. The relevant targets for endometriosis(EMT) and dysmenorrhea were retrieved from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database(CTD), Therapeutic Target Database(TTD), GeneCards, and DisGeNET with the terms of "endometriosis" and "dysmenorrhea". Cytoscape 3.8.0 was employed to construct the drug-active component-therapeutic target network. A protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was established by STRING 11.0. Analyze Network, the plug-in in the Cytoscape 3.8.0, was used to calculate the topological parameters of the nodes and screen out the critical proteins in the network. The potential therapeutic targets were imported into RStudio and subjected to Gene Ontology(GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) enrichment analyses with clusterProfiler package. Finally, the AutoDock Vina(Vina) platform was used for molecular docking to predict the binding degree of the main active components of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction to key targets. As revealed by the screening results, 136 active components and 380 targets of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction were obtained. Additionally, there were 1 627 targets related to EMT and 142 targets related to dysmenorrhea with 107 common targets, and 42 potential therapeutic targets of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction for the treatment of EMT-induced dysmenorrhea. The targets such as interleukin 6(IL6) and prostaglandi-nendoperoxide synthase-2(PTGS2) were pivotal in the biological network of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction intervention in EMT-induced dysmenorrhea, which involved multiple signaling pathways, including inflammation, hormones, and those promoted cell proliferation [e.g., mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase(PI3 K)-protein kinase B(AKT)]. The results of molecular docking showed that the active components of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction had good binding capacities to key targets such as IL6 and PTGS2. The findings of this study demonstrated that Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction could treat EMT-induced dysmenorrhea through multiple targets and multiple pathways, which could provide new ideas for investigating the underlying mechanism of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction in the treatment of EMT-induced dysmenorrhea.