A randomized controlled clinical study of acupuncture therapy for Seborrheic alopecia in young and middle ages: Study protocol clinical trial (SPIRIT compliant).

INTRODUCTION: Seborrheic alopecia (SA) has clinical manifestations, duration of disease, and priorities. In the current situation where there are many and complicated clinical treatments, Western medicine treatment can delay and control the development of the disease and promote hair regeneration. However, some patients may aggravate symptoms after taking the drug, and the condition is easy to repeat after stopping the drug. Acupuncture is an important method for non-surgical treatment of SA, and it has various methods, low side effects, high safety, and simple and economical. Therefore, we will use a clinical randomized controlled study to explore the effect of acupuncture on SA, and provide a new idea and reference for the treatment of this disease. METHODS/DESIGN: We will select 60 patients diagnosed with SA. They will be randomly divided into intervention group and control groups. The control group will be given conventional treatment measures. The intervention group will receive acupuncture. Efficacy will be evaluated by comparing the skin lesion score and dermatological quality of life index before and after treatment. DISCUSSION: This trial may provide evidence regarding the clinical effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness of acupuncture for patients with SA. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: CTR2000030430.

Novel Method of Preparation and Activity Research on Arctigenin from Fructus Arctii.

BACKGROUND: Arctigenin has many pharmacological activities with clinical significance and is derived from Arctium lappa L. However, the present extraction method is inefficient and does not have meaningful industrial production. OBJECTIVE: A new method to directly prepare arctigenin was established by combining enzyme-assisted extraction and central composite design. Arctigenin's further pharmacological activity was also surveyed in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ß-D-Glucosidase, a food-grade enzyme, was added directly to the fruits of A. lappa L. to hydrolyze the arctiin to arctigenin, and the obtained samples were subsequently subjected to ethanol (30%, v/v) extraction. The pharmacological activity of the extraction and arctigenin was determined by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and scavenging nitrite. RESULTS: The factors investigated include the enzyme concentration (0.5%-2.5%), ultrasound time (10 min-3 0 min), and extraction temperature (30°C-50°C). From the analysis of the results by Design-Expert (V8.0.6), the optimal extraction conditions were obtained: enzyme concentration (1.4%), ultrasound time (25 min), and extraction temperature (45°C). The highest yield of arctigenin, obtained under the optimal conditions was 6.39%, representing an increase of 28.15% compared to the reference extraction without enzyme processing. The IC50 values of the extraction and arctigenin, respectively, for inhibiting AChE were 0.572 mg/ml and 0.462 mg/ml, and those for nitrite-scavenging were 34.571 mg/ml and 17.49 mg/ml. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that using an enzyme directly in the production is an effective means for extracting arctigenin from Fructus arctii. The extraction has the activities of inhibiting AChE and scavenging nitrite, probably because there has arctigenin in it. It is implied that the extraction and arctigenin could contribute to human health in clinical applications. SUMMARY: The new method of adding enzyme directly to the preparation of arctigenin was carried out instead of preparing arctigenin by two-step methodThree factors affecting the efficiency of preparation were analyzed and discussed include the enzyme concentration, ultrasound time, and extraction temperature by central composite designThis new method of preparing arctigenin improved the yield significantly than other methodsArctigenin has remarkable pharmacological activities of inhibiting acetylcholinesterase and scavenging nitrite. Abbreviations used: AChE: Acetylcholinesterase, CCD: Central composite design, TCM: Traditional Chinese medicines, AD.

Synthesis and pharmacological activity evaluation of arctigenin monoester derivatives.

Arctigenin (ARG), a nature medicine with many pharmacological activities, was poorly soluble in water and placed restriction on practical usage. Six novel arctigenin monoester derivatives were obtained from the reflux reaction with arctigenin, carboxylic acids (crotonic acid, furoic acid, 2-naphthalene acid and indol-3-acetic acid), EDCI and DMAP in dichloromethane at 60°C for 4-6h and their properties on nitrite scavenging assay were investigated in vitro. Based on the results, the one of the most effective derivatives, arctigenin ß-indolylacetate (ARG6), was selected to study anti-tumor activity in vivo at doses of 20 and 40mg/kg. The results showed that comparison with ARG group, ARG6 exhibited more anti-tumor activity in H22 tumor-bearing mice. Furthermore, ARG6 exhibited less damage to the liver, kidney, spleen and thymus when compared with those in positive group. Biochemical parameters of ALT, AST, BUN and Cre showed ARG6 had little toxicity to mice as well. ARG6 significantly improved serum cytokine levels of IL-2, IL-6, IFN-γ and TNF-α, and decreased VEGF compared with ARG. Moreover, H & E staining, TUNEL assay and immunohistochemical of tumor issues also indicated that ARG6 exhibited anti-tumor activity in vivo. In brief, the present study provide a method to improve ARG anti-tumor activity and provide a reference for new anti-tumor agent.

Clinical analysis of tear film after lamellar keratoplasty.

AIM: To study the tear film stability after lamellar keratoplasty. METHODS: Five female and eight male patients with lamellar keratoconus, aged from 18 to 32, were involved. After lamellar keratoplasty, Schirmer I test(S I t), tear break-up time(BUT) test, fluorescein staining test were used to judge the effect of the surgery at different time point. RESULTS: The S I t were greatly increased in 7 days post operation (11.86±2.28 -25.14±1.97, 19.86±1.61) (P<0.05), there is no significant difference between 2(nd) month, 3(rd) month post-operative and pre-operation (11.86±2.28 - 14.57±1.48, 8.14±0.86) (P>0.05). The mean break-up time decreased in 7 days post operation (5.00±1.31 - 2.71±0.18, 2.57±0.20, 2.71±0.36, 2.43±0.20) (P<0.05). The mean scores of fluorescence increased post-operatively (0.14±0.14 - 8.00±0.00, 8.00±0.00, 8.00±0.00, 7.57±0.20) (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Lamellar keratoplaty influence the tear film stability, artificial tears and improving corneal epithelium cured medicine should be used after surgery.