Clinical Efficacy of Tongqiao Huoxuetang Plus Acupuncture on Post-stroke Cognitive Impairment and Its Effect on Neurotransmitters and Neurological Function of Patients / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the clinical efficacy of Tongqiao Huoxuetang plus acupuncture on post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) and its effect on neurotransmitters and neurological function of patients. Method:Totally 122 PSCI patients admitted in our hospital from January 2017 to March 2019 were randomly divided into observation group and control group by simple random number table method, with 61 patients in each group. Both groups were given oral donepezil hydrochloride tablets. The control group was given acupuncture treatment, while the observation group was given Tongqiao Huoxuetang plus acupuncture in addition to therapy of control group. All patients were treated continuously for 4 weeks. The clinical efficacy was compared between two groups. Before and after treatment, the general cognitive function of two groups was tested by mini-mental state examination (MMSE), changes of their neurologic impairment and daily living ability were evaluated by National institutes of health stroke scale (NIHSS) and Barthel index (BI) respectively, and euzymelinked immunosorbent assay was adopted to test the levels of neurotransmitters [acetyl choline (ACh), dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NE), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)] and neurologic impairment markers [neuronspecific enolase (NSE), visinin-like protein-1 (VILIP-1), myelin basic protein (MBP)]. And the occurrence of adverse reactions was recorded. Result:The overall effective rate of the observation group was 91.8% (56/61), which was much higher than 78.7% (48/61) of control group (P<0.05). After treatment, both groups saw much higher MMSE and BI scores but lower NIHHS scores than before treatment (P<0.05), and above indicators in observation group were improved more significantly than those in control group over the same period after treatment (P<0.05). The levels of serum ACh, DA, NE and 5-HT after treatment were obviously higher than those before treatment (P<0.05), and observation group had significantly higher ACh, DA, NE and 5-HT levels than control group over the same period (P<0.05). After treatment, both groups witnessed a great decrease in NSE, VILIP-1, MBP (P<0.05), while the observation group saw dramatically lower NSE, VILIP-1, MBP levels than control group over the same period after treatment (P<0.05). Neither of two groups saw serious adverse reactions. Conclusion:In treating PSCI, Tongqiao Huoxuetang plus acupuncture can significantly improve neurological function of the patients, which may be due to increase of neurotransmitters. Besides, Tongqiao Huoxuetang plus acupuncture is proved to be generally effective in promoting the recovery of patients' neurological function and enhancing their abilities in daily life, with a good tolerance among patients.