Comparison on celluar anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory activities of seven derivative combinations of Yaotongning with alkaloid as main part and in vivo pharmacodynamic evaluation on optimized candidate combination / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate which kind of Chinese medicinal effective fractions will produce good comprehensive cellular pharmacological activities when they were combined with alkaloids from Strychnos nux-vomica and Ephedra sinica, and to evaluate in vivo pharmacological activities of the effective fraction combination screened by cellular experiments. Methods: The equal proportion mixture of alkaloids from S. nux-vomica and E. sinica was set as a sample (sample 1, A); Two samples (samples 2 and 3) were designed by respectively adding the equal ratio mixture of five flavonoids (F) at 50% into alkaloids from S. nux-vomica or E. sinica; Four samples (samples 4-7) were designed by respectively adding F, equal proportion mixture of four saponins (S), equal ratio mixture of six volatile oils/aqueous (V), and equal proportion mixture of six polysaccharides (P) at 50% into A. Murine macrophage cells and chondrocytes were exposed to the new recipes, and then the half inhibitory concentration (IC50) of recipes for inhibiting (PGE2) in macrophages and the half effective concentration (EC50) for promotion of the secretion of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in macrophages were detected and compared. The interactions among the active fractions were evaluated by comparing the experimental EC50/IC50 values to their corresponding additive EC50/IC50 values calculated by the least square optimum method. The in vivo pharmacodynamics of the best combination was evaluated by the ear swelling model and delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) model in mice. Results: Sample 4 has good comprehensive activities of cellular anti-inflammation and immunoregulation. Moreover, strong synergistic effect among the effective fractions in this sample was observed; Cellular anti-inflammatory activities of samples 5, 6, and 7 were equivalent with sample 4; Samples 5 and 7 had good comprehensive cellular immunoregulation activity; But the alkaloids mixture (A) and the combinations of S. nux-vomica or E. sinica alkaloids with F (samples 2 and 3) were significantly weaker than sample 4 in cellular anti-inflammation, immunoregulation, and chondrocyte-proliferation. Sample 4 also exhibits a certain effect on in vivo anti-inflammation and immunity in mice when A was decreased at 25% or 5%. Conclusion: It is not suitable to design a combination just by alkaloids from S. nux-vomica and alkaloids of E. sinica; Alkaloids from S. nux-vomica or alkaloids of E. sinica are also not appropriate to solely combine with the mixture of flavonoids (F). When A is combined with F, S, V, and P, respectively, synergistic or additive effects among the active fractions are usually observed. These active fractions help to strengthen comprehensive cellular pharmacological activities of A. Sample 4 not only has good cellular activities of anti-inflammation and immunoregulation but also has better in vivo effect on anti-inflammation and immunity, suggesting that it is feasible to screen the optimized Chinese medicine formula based on cellular pharmacological experiments.