Huanglian jiedu decoction active fraction protects ipsilateral thalamus injury in MCAO rats through regulating astrocytes / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the protective effects of the Huanglian Jiedu decoction aqueous extract and its active fraction, which consists of total alkaloids, total flavonoids and total iridoid, on the thalamus of cerebral ischemia in rats.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was chosen. Male SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group, model group, aqueous extract group (800 mg x kg(-1)), total alkaloids group(44 mg x kg(-1)), total flavonoids group (50 mg x kg(-1)) and the total iridoid group (80 mg x kg(-1)). The rats were administered the appropriate drugs intragastrically once a day, for 7 days after surgery. An equivalent volume of saline was given in the sham surgery and model groups. The HE staining was adopted to observe the pathological changes. Determination of Glu and gamma-GABA in thalamus were detected by HPLC with fluorescence detection. The expression of GAD65 was examined with immunohistochemistry and double staining with uorescent-conjugated antibodies against GFAP and Cx43 was chosen in this study.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The neurons degenerated in MCAO rats after cerebral ischemia 7 d. The content of Glu, gamma-GABA decreased (P < 0.05), the expression of GAD65 reduced (P < 0.05) and the expression of GFAP and Cx43 increased (P < 0.01) in thalamus of rats compared with sham-operation group. Huanglian Jiedu decoction aqueous extract, total alkaloids, total flavonoids and total iridoid reduced the degeneration of neurons. Total flavonoids could promote the expression of GAD65 (P < 0.05) and decrease the expression of GFAP and Cx43 (P < 0.01) in thalamus compared with model group while it could also increased the content of Glu,gamma-GA BA to normal levels. Compared with model group, Huanglian Jiedu decoction aqueous extract, total alkaloids and total iridoid could raise the expression of Cx43, and Huanglian Jiedu decoction aqueous extract could also increase the expression of GAD65 (P < 0.05). The expression of GFAP in Huanglian Jiedu decoction aqueous extract group, total alkaloids group and total iridoid group were not different compared with model group while the content of gamma-GABA decreased (P < 0.05) compared with sham-operation group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The degeneration of nerve cells, the reduction of neurotransmitter amino acids content, the aberrant activation of astrocytes and the abnormal expression of GFAP and Cx43 will appear in thalamus of MCAO rats after ischemia. Huanglian Jiedu decoction total flavonoids could relieve the injury of nerve cell through inhibiting the abnormal activation of astrocytes and regulating the expression of GFAP and GAD65.</p>

Experimental research on application of hydrodynamic acoustic generator in extraction of Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the hydrodynamic ultrasonic energy extraction technique for Chinese Medicine.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The content of baicalin in Radix Scutellariae extracts and total flavones in Folium Ginkgo extracts were as indexes respectively and measured by high performance liquid chromatography. We investigated the hydrodynamic ultrasonic energy extraction process for the extraction of Radix Scutellariae and Folium Ginkgo respectively, and compared with refluxing method, decoction and ultrasonic extraction. With the content of the extracts as indexes, Compound prescriptions of Traditional Chinese Medicine were extracted by the hydrodynamic ultrasonic extraction and decoction extraction.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The content of baicalin of hydrodynamic ultrasonic energy extracts was significant higher than other extracts. The content of Ginkgo leaves flavones in hydrodynamic ultrasonic energy extracts and ultrasonic extracts had no significant difference. Compared with decocting extracts, hydrodynamic ultrasonic energy extracts of TCM compound prescriptions content was higher greatly.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The hydrodynamic ultrasonic energy extraction process showed higher extraction rate of baicalin of radix scutellariae than traditional extraction methods. And it was beneficial to the dissolution of water-soluble constituents in compound prescriptions of TCM. The content of Ginkgo leaves flavones in the hydrodynamic ultrasonic energy extracts and ultrasonic extracts had no obvious difference.</p>

Protective effect of baicalin on mouse with Parkinson's disease induced by MPTP / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the protective effect of baicalin on mouse with Parkinson's disease induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The mouse model of Parkinson's disease was established by intraperitoneal injection of MPTP at the daily dose of 30 mg/kg for 3 days to the aged (ten months old) C57BL mouse. And to the model mice in the tested group, baicalin (100 mg/kg) was given via gastric perfusion per day for 15 days. The motor function of limbs in mice was tested through hanging and swimming tests; the dopamine content of striatum was measured by HPLC; and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the brain tissue were measured by spectrophotography. Besides, the freezing section of mouse brain was made through immunohistochemical stain with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) to determine the condition of dopaminergic neuron damage in mesencephalon.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The decreased score in the hanging test and swimming test, the reduced DA contents of striatum and lessening of TH positive neurons in substantial nigra illustrated the model of Parkinson's disease was successfully established. (2) Medication of baicalin could prevent the loss of TH positive neurons in substantial nigra and the decrease of dopamine content of striatum in Parkinson mouse, and significantly raise the content of GSH in the brain, but MPTP induced motor dysfunction in model mouse was not significantly improved by a short-time medication.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The preventive medication of baicalin shows a protective effect on C57 BL mouse with Parkinson's disease induced by MPTP.</p>