Mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

OBJECTIVE: To review the major progress in mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR). METHODS: Contents about the treatment mechanism of TCM in the therapy of AR in this article were obtained from 22 original articles and reviews published in Chinese- and English-language journals. All of the references were searched by use of Pubmed (1997 - 2012). RESULTS: AR is one of the most common and most serious public health problems in children and young people. Many AR patients were worried about the possible adverse effects of synthetic drugs they were taking. Thus, they seek complementary and alternative therapy, such as TCM. TCM emphasized on the importance of holistic convalescence, not just the disease itself. The favorable safety profile of TCM makes well-acceptance by the general population. In the recent decade, more and more studies of TCM for AR are developed. These studies indicated that the treatment of allergic disorders with TCM therapy including herbal medicines and acupuncture are of safety and efficacy. The mechanism of TCM in the treatment of AR has been discussed. It has been reported that a number of the herbs in the Chinese herbal formulae used in the treatment possess anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory or immune modulation activity. Such function include the inhibition of the release or the activity of mast cell mediators (such as histamine), inhibition the induction of inflammation reaction by chemical agents, and down regulation of serum (immunoglobulin E) IgE levels or the activity of lymphocyte and/or macrophage. CONCLUSIONS: TCM are frequently used concurrently to improve the clinical efficacy. This review is focuses on the description of the actions mechanism of Chinese medicine's approach relevant to the treatment of AR.

Protective effects of polydatin against CCl(4)-induced injury to primarily cultured rat hepatocytes.

AIM:To investigate the protective effects of polydatin (PD) against injury to primarily cultured rat hepatocytes induced by CCl(4).METHODS:Rat hepatocytes were separated by methods of liver infusion in vivo and cultured medium (7.5X10(5) cells/mL). Two mL or 0.2mL was added into 24-well or 96-well plates respectively. Twenty-four hours after cell preculture, PD at concentrations of 10(-7) mol/L-10(-4)mol/L was added into each plate. At the same time injury to hepatocytes was induced by adding 10mmol/L CCl(4).Then, 0.1mL or 1mL culture solution was removed from the 96-well or 24-well plates at 6h, 12h, 24h and 48h after CCl14 intoxication respectively for the determination of GPT, GSH and MDA. At 48h, the survivability of rat hepatocytes was assayed by the MTT colormetric method.RESULTS:After CCl(4) challenge, the release of GPT and the formation of MDA in rat hepatocytes markedly increased and maintained at a high level in 48h, whereas PD with different concentrations could markedly inhibit this elevation with 10(-5)mol/L PD having the strongest effects and inhibiting rate was over 50%. PD could also improve the decreased content of GSH caused by CCl(4) in accordance with the doses used. CCl(4) evidently decreased the hepatocyte survivability from 91.0% ± 7.9% to 35.4% ± 3.8%. On the other hand, PD at 10(-7)mol/L-10(-4)mol/L could reverse this change and improve the cell survival rates to 56.1% ± 5.2%, 65.8% ± 5.0%, 88.7% ± 6.8% and 75.2% ± 7.3%, respectively.CONCLUSION: PD at 10(-7)mol/L-10(-4)mol/L could protect primarily cultured rat hepatocytes against CCl(4) induced injury.