ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the mechanism of tripterygium wilfordii hook f(TWHF)for Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis(HSPN,nephrotic type)in children.Methods All the children with HSPN(nephrotic type)were divided into 3 groups casually.Method of radioactive pairs conjugating analysis was used to determine the numbers of glucocorticoid(GC)receptors(GCRs).Results were statistically analysed respectively.Results GCRs tested in all the patients with HSPN(nephrotic type)before treatment were statistically lower than those in control group of normal children;GCRs in all the patients tested after 1 week treatment with GC were lower than before treatment.Three weeks later,GCRs in patients treated with TWHF increased much higher than them without TWHF.Following up the recurring times of all the patients 3 months to 5 years,they were much more in patients treated without TWHF treatment than in patients treated with it.Conclusions TWHF treatment on HSPN(nephrotic type)is obviously effective.It can not only decrease the dosage of GC,but decrease the recurring times.One of the mechanism may be TWHF can resist the down-regulation GC to GCR,and enhance the effect of GC.