Vague categorization of the metal elements in Chinese patent medicines for treating cerebrovascular diseases

Liqin HAN; Junmin WANG; Shunfu DONG

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Epidemiological studies indicated that trace elements were closely correlated with the causes and pathogenesis of cerebrovascular disease, many trace elements play a beneficial role in maintaining the cerebrovascular and cardiovascular functions and structures, the trace elements needed in human body all exist in Chinese patent medicines, and different Chinese patent medicines contain different trace elements.

OBJECTIVE:

To make vague category of metal elements in 10 kinds of Chinese patent medicines commonly used to treat cerebrovascular diseases in clinic, and find the similarity of the contents of trace elementsand macroelements among the medicines, so as to provide evidence for researching the role of trace elements in the medicines and the correlation with the treatment of cerebrovascular disease.

DESIGN:

Ten kinds of Chinese patent medicines were powdered and accurately weighed, digested wit the HNO3-HClO4 wet method, the contents of metal elements were determined with atomic absorption spectrometry,mathematic matrix was applied in the vaguecategory of the data so as to find the similarities among the medicines.SETTINGS Department of Chemistry, Jilin Medical College; Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Jilin Medical College.MATERIALS The medicines were Naosetong tablet, Qiangli Tianma Duzhong Wan, Tongsemai tablet, Maitong capsule, Tongmai Ningxin Chongji, Fufang Yinxing Jiaowan, Dahuoluo Dan, Zhongfeng Huichun tablet, Xiaoshuan Tongluo capsule and Di 'ao Zhibituo, all of which could be bought on the market. Reagents The standard reserving solution for Ca,Mg, Cu and Cr was the national criteria solution (NCS) with the concentration of 1.000 g/L (State Test Center of Ferrous Materials), that for Mn was the secondary NCS with the concentration of 500 mg/L (China General Station for Environment Monitoring). The concentration was 50 mg/L for Ca,Mg, Cu and Cr, 20 mg/L for Mn, HNO3 and HClO4 were both in excellent purity, and the water for the experiment was deionized water.

METHODS:

From March to June in 2001, 10 kinds of Chinese patent medicines commonly used to treat cerebrovascular diseases in clinic were selected in the Department of Chemistry, Jilin Medical College, dried and powdered, completely mixed, 1.000 0 g was weighed accurately with analytical balance, 3 portions were used for each kind of sample. The atomic absorption spectrometry was used to determine the contents of macroelements (Na, Ca, Mg, K) and trace elements (Fe, Ni, Mn, Cr, Cu, Zn), the ratios of Cu/Zn and Ca/Mg were calculated, the method of vague category was applied to study the correlations of the medicines.MAIN OUTCOME

MEASURES:

The differences of the contents of trace elements in different medicines were observed by determining their contents,and the similarities were found in the clustering analysis of the data.

RESULTS:

① The contents of the trace elements and macroelements were rich in the 10 medicines, but they were different in different medicines.There were more macroelements in Naosetong tablet, Qiangli Tianma Duzhong Wan, Tongsemai tablet and Dahuoluo Dan; The trace elements were more in Tongsemai tablet and Maitong capsule. ② The contents of 10kinds of metal elements, Cu/Zn ratio and Ca/Mg ratio of each sample were taken as the indexes for standardized processing, and the method of maximal tree was applied for the clustering analysis. When r=0.55, five medicines had similar cluster, which were Naosetong tablet, Qiangli Tianma Duzhong Wan, Tongsemai tablet, Maitong capsule, Dahuoluo Dan and Xiaoshuan Tongluo capsule. ③ When r=0.85, three medicines had similar cluster, which were Qiangli Tianma Duzhong Wan, Tongsemai tablet and Maitong capsule. When r=0.95, the clustering analysis of trace elements of two medicines were extremely similar, which were Tongsemai tablet and Maitong capsule. Both Tongsemai tablet and Maitong capsule had the efficacies of increasing blood flow, ameliorate blood stream, and they had many similarities in treating cerebrovascular disease.

CONCLUSION:

Trace elements should have the similar actions in the process of drug treatment, the Chinese patent medicines with greater correlation coefficient in the clustering analysis have greater similarities in the efficacy on cerebrovascular disease, and those with smaller correlation coefficient also have fewer similarities in the efficacy.