Antipyretic effect of active components of Mahuang Decoction and its correlation with pharmacokinetics in febrile rats / 中国中药杂志

To investigate the antipyretic effect of active components of Mahuang Decoction in febrile rats, and explore its correlation with pharmacokinetics at different time points. The feverished rat models were induced by dry yeast, and intragastrically administered with the effective components of Mahuang Decoction with different orthogonal compatibility ratios. At different time points after administration, body temperature was measured; blood was taken from orbital vena plexus, and the contents of interleukin-6(IL-6), interleukin-1β(IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) in rat serum were determined with the kits. Combined with the pharmacokinetic data of the seven effective components in Mahuang Decoction, PK-PD(pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics) data fitting was conducted by using the analysis method of non-atrioventricular model, and then the pharmacodynamic parameters were calculated to determine the optimal binding model. The results showed that the effective components of Mahuang Decoction inhibited the release of heat-causing factors IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α, and reduced the increase of body temperature. There was a significant lag between drug effect and blood drug concentration, which was consistent with Sigmoid-E_(max) model. The model fitting value showed a good correlation with mea-sured data, which could be used to evaluate and predict the correlation between PK and PD in Mahuang Decoction, and further applied to the multiple-indicator and multiple-effect study of PK-PD in other compound traditional Chinese medicines.

A Case of Ischemic Colitis Associated with the Herbal Food Supplement Ma Huang

Ischemic colitis is a condition that usually occurs in the elderly, as a form of vascular disease. However, ischemic colitis also occurs, though rarely, in healthy young adults. Moreover, food supplements containing Ephedra sinica or ma huang have been linked to adverse central nervous and cardiovascular events. A 40-year-old man was admitted to our emergency department after 2 episodes of abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea that lasted 24 hours. His medical history was unremarkable for risk factors of bowel ischemia, except for well-controlled hypertension. However, a weight-loss supplement, Ephedra sinica, had been prescribed for daily use during the previous month. Both abdominal/pelvic computed tomography and colonoscopy revealed findings compatible with ischemic colitis. His conditions spontaneously improved without any serious complications, and he was advised to discontinue the use of herbal medications containing ephedrine. In this paper, we describe a case of ischemic colitis that was potentially linked to the use of ma huang with a review of the relevant literature.