STUDIES ON THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE“RE DU QING”ON SILICOSIS:Cytochemical and Scanning Electron Microscope Studies of the Protective Effect on the Macrophages Phagocytosed Silica Dusts / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

In order to investigate the therapeutic effect of traditional chinese medicine "Re Du Qing" on silicosis, the cultured and purifiel peritoneal macrophages in five groups obtained from mice were observed dynamically with cytochemical me- thods and scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the survival times of cell cultures were 2-3 weeks, 24-48, 72, 48-72 and 48-72 hr in normal, silica, "Re Du Qing", P204 and joint action group respectively in vitro. The characteristics of cell morphology with a series of cell surface ultrastructural changes in different times of culturd and the stages of various function were different in five groups. The cell surface ultrastructural changes of "Re Du Qing" group were similar to the normal group. The macrophages in the silica group phagocytosed silica dusts rapidly died and broken down much earlier than the cells in "Re Du Qing" group. The cell surface ultrastructural changes in P204 group were less than that of the cells in silica group, whereas the eell surface ultrastructural changes in joint action group were between the cells in "Re Du Qing" and P204 groups. The activities of intracellular acid phosphatase (AcP) and succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) in silica group were also much lower than that of "Re Du Qing" one. This study suggested that traditional chinese medicine "Re Du Qing" is evidently more effective on therapy of experimental silicosis.