ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effects and molecular mechanisms of the combination between total Astragalus extract (TAE) and total Panax notoginseng saponins (TPNS) against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into sham-operated group, model group, TAE (110 mg/kg) group, TPNS (115 mg/kg) group, TAE-TPNS combination group and Edaravone (4 mg/kg) group, treated for 4 days, then, cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury was established by bilateral common carotid artery (CCA) ligation for 20 min followed by reperfusion for 1 and 24 h.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>TPNS could increase adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level, TAE and TAE-TPNS combination increased ATP, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) contents and Na-K-ATPase activity, and the effects of TAE-TPNS combination were stronger than those of TAE or TPNS alone after reperfusion for 1 h. After reperfusion for 24 h, TAE, TPNS and TAE-TPNS combination significantly increased neurocyte survival rate and decreased the apoptosis rate as well as down-regulated the expression of phosphorylated c-June N-terminal kinase1/2 (p-JNK1/2), cytochrome C (Cyt C), cysteine aspartic acid-specific protease (Caspase)-9 and Caspase-3. Furthermore, the effects in TAE-TPNS combination were better than those in TAE or TPNS alone.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The combination of TAE 110 mg/kg and TPNS 115 mg/kg could strengthen protective effects on cerebral ischemia injury, the mechanism underlying might be related to improving jointly the early energy metabolism, and relieving the delayed apoptosis via inhibiting the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway of JNK signal transduction.</p>
ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of treating active ankylosing spondylitis with total panax notoginseng saponins (PNS). Methods sixty-two patients were randomly recruited into a control group and a treatment group, with thirty-one patients in each group. All patients were treated with the routine therapy of NSAIDs and DMARDs. The treatment group was given PNS additionally, with 400mg PNS joined with 200ml normal saline being intravenously dripped daily. The therapeutic course was 14 days for both groups. The observation items for evaluation included symptoms, signs, and side effects. Results Compared with previous state before treatment, the lumbosacral portion pain and the count of joint pain was reduce, the time of morning stiffness was shortening, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reaction protein (CRP) were all significantly reduced (P<0.05) ; There were significant differences in the total effectiveness rates between the two groups (P<0.05) ; while no notable difference was found in adverse drug reaction between the groups (P>0.05). Conclusion It is effective that treating active ankylosing spondylitis with PNS plus NSAIDs.