RESUMO
To propose the hypothesis of the requirement for optimum ratio of various active cons tituents of Chinese materia medica with desired effects, which suggests that both single drug and compound drug prescriptions have their own target effects corresponding to their main indications and their active constituents must be in optimum ratio This hypothesis was initially tested in an ischemic animal model The neuroprotection of Yushen Oral Liquor (YSOL, an oral liquor made of Chinese materia medica) on neuronal injury in CA1 region of rat hippocampus following transient forebrain ischemia was used as an index to evaluate the drug's effect By combination of HPLC and pharmacological method, the relationship of HPLC and pharmacodynamical results of each sample made of YSOL was studied to observe the chromatogram peaks representing the drug's neuro protective effects There are three peaks named as R1, R2, and R3 for YSOL, which closely correlate to the drug's neuronal protective effects and the relative weight but not the absolute quantity of those peaks plays a critical role in producing neuronal protective effects of YSOL on ischemia induced neuronal damage The results provide experimental data supporting our proposed hypothesis