Abdominal acupoint thread embedding therapy based on "brain-intestinal connection" for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease and its effects on serum levels of APP and Aβ / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To compare the clinical efficacy of abdominal acupoint thread embedding therapy based on "brain-intestinal connection" combined with donepezil hydrochloride tablets and oral donepezil hydrochloride tablets alone for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) and observe its effects on amyloid precursor protein (APP) and β-amyloid protein@*METHODS@#Sixty patients with AD were randomly divided into an observation group (30 cases, 3 cases dropped off) and a control group (30 cases, 3 cases dropped off). The patients in the control group were treated with donepezil hydrochloride tablets (5 mg per day); based on the treatment in the control group, the patients in the observation group were treated with abdominal acupoint thread embedding therapy at Zhongwan (CV 12), Xiawan (CV 10), Huaroumen (ST 24), Wailing (ST 26), Daheng (SP 15), etc., once every 10 days. Both groups were treated for 2 months. The mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Alzheimer's disease assessment scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), activity of daily living scale (ADL), neuropsychiatric inventory questionnaire (NPI) as well as the serum levels of APP and Aβ@*RESULTS@#After treatment, the MMSE scores in the two groups were higher than those before treatment (@*CONCLUSION@#The abdominal acupoint thread embedding therapy based on the theory of "brain-intestinal connection" combined with donepezil hydrochloride tablets can improve cognitive function, self-care ability of daily life and mental behavior, and reduce the serum levels of APP and Aβ

[Determination of andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide in Andrographis paniculata nees materials and related patent medicines by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography].

A simple and accurate method for the determination of andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide in andrographis paniculata Nees materials and patent medicines with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been developed. The two components were extracted from powdered samples by shaking with methanol. The resultant extracts were separated within 15 min on a BECKMAN C18 column (4.6 mm i. d. x 250 mm, 5 microm) and with a gradient elution of acetonitrile-water at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The detection wavelength was 225 nm and the injection volume was 20 microL. In gradient elution program the volume fraction of acetonitrile in mobile phase was as follows: 0 min - 1 min, 40%; 1 min - 5 min, 40% - 50%; 5 min - 15 min, 50% - 70%. Both andrographolide and dehydroandrographolide have good linearity in the range of 10 mg/L to 100 mg/L with the correlation coefficients of 0.997 6 and 0.998 6 respectively. This method has been successfully applied for the analysis of andrographis paniculata Nees materials and related patent medicines.