Observation of the clinical effects of iontophoresis of a chinese drug in the treatment of degenerative osteoarthropathy.

Degenerative osteoarthropathy, a kind of arthrosis induced by various factors, mainly affects articular cartilage and causes syndesmophyte formation. Its morbidity increases year by year, tending to occur more among young people than previously. This paper mainly discusses the clinical effects of iontophoresis of the Chinese drug in treating degenerative osteoarthropathy. A total of 296 cases of degenerative osteoarthropathy were randomly divided into two groups (of both genders): the iontophoresis group: the joint was treated with iontophoresis of the Chinese drug and a medium frequency electrotherapy instrument; the frequency electrotherapy group: the joint was treated only by medium frequency electrotherapy. The two groups were both treated for 30 min once a day, for a total of 4 weeks. The results of the study showed that, the total effective rate in the medium frequency electrotherapy group was 74.3%, the iontophoresis group was 93.2%, indicating the curative effect of iontophoresis of the Chinese medicine. The above finding indicates that, iontophoresis has a good clinical effect in the treatment of osteoarthropathy and deserves to be promoted and applied.

Ferulic acid induces heme oxygenase-1 via activation of ERK and Nrf2.

This study investigated the effect of ferulic acid (FA) on the up-regulation of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in lymphocytes and the molecular mechanisms involved. Lymphocytes were treated with FA (0.001-0.1 µM) for certain times. Cell viability, the activity and level of expression of HO-1, and signal pathways were analyzed. FA significantly upregulated HO-1 expression both at the level of mRNA and protein in lymphocytes. Moreover, FA induced NF-E2-related factor (Nrf2) nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity, which is upstream of FA induced HO-1 expression. In addition, lymphocytes treated with FA exhibited activation of extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) and treatments with U0126 (an ERK kinase inhibitor) attenuated the FA induced activation of Nrf2, resulting in a decrease in HO-1 expression. Zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP, a HO-1 inhibitor) markedly suppressed cytoprotection from radiation-induced cell damage by FA. Results suggested that the ERK signaling pathway controlled the anti-oxidation of FA by regulating the expression of the antioxidant enzyme HO-1.

Serum fructose concentration in rats after single dose oral administration of Si-Wu-Tang.

Our previous study showed that fructose is an important active constituent that is responsible for Si-Wu-Tang's (SWT) effects promoting hematopoiesis and immunity. In order to provide primary data for analysis of the mechanism of fructose's bioactivity, the concentration of serum fructose in rats after a single oral administration dose of Si-Wu-Tang was determined. The concentration of serum fructose in fasting rats was 0.34 ± 0.24 mg/dL. After oral administration of 7.2 mL per kg body weight of SWT extract (1 mL extract corresponds to 1 g SWT dried herbs), serum fructose levels reached a peak concentration of 1.03 ± 0.25 mg/dL within 60 min, and then declined to the baseline level within 180 min, a pattern which is similar to the one reported for oral administration of pure fructose. The peak concentration was only 2-3 times higher than the baseline serum fructose concentration. These results showed that the increase of blood fructose concentration after oral administration of SWT is small and transient, which is very probably due to the quick metabolism of fructose by the liver. We suggest, for future research, it is necessary to consider the probability that fructose's bioactivity on hematopoiesis and immunity is not exerted by fructose in its original form, but after it is metabolized by the liver.

Rehmanniae Radix provides most of the free fructose and glucose in Si-Wu-Tang decoction.

Our previous study showed that free fructose is an important active constituent responsible for Si-Wu-Tang's (SWT) effect promoting hematopoiesis and immunity. However, the contribution from SWT's four ingredient drugs to the free fructose content in the SWT decoction was not clear. To answer this question, in this study, the fructose, glucose and sucrose content in the SWT decoction, in the decoctions of each single ingredient drug, and in the decoctions of the four formulae lacking each single ingredient drug were determined by HPLC-ELSD. The results showed that the fructose and glucose content in the decoction of single Rehmanniae Radix were almost the same as those in the SWT decoction. In the single Rehmanniae Radix decoction concentrations were: 4.25 ± 0.53 mg/mL for fructose, and 3.43 ± 0.60 mg/mL for glucose; in the SWT decoction concentrations were: 4.10 ± 0.43 mg/mL for fructose, and 3.42 ± 0.32 mg/mL for glucose, while the content of fructose and glucose in the decoctions of single Angelica Radix, single Paeoniae Radix, single Chuanxiong Rhizoma and the formula lacking Rehmanniae Radix were either very small or undetectable. On the other hand, the fructose and glucose content in the decoctions of the formulae lacking Angelica Radix, lacking Paeoniae Radix and lacking Chuanxiong Rhizoma also were approximately the same as those in the SWT decoction. This indicated that Rehmanniae Radix provides most of the free fructose and glucose in the SWT decoction, and therefore plays an important role in SWT's effect promoting hematopoiesis and immunity. As for sucrose in the SWT decoction, Angelica Radix was shown to be a major donor.