A homeopathic remedy from arnica, marigold, St. John's wort and comfrey accelerates in vitro wound scratch closure of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts.

BACKGROUND: Drugs of plant origin such as Arnica montana, Calendula officinalis or Hypericum perforatum have been frequently used to promote wound healing. While their effect on wound healing using preparations at pharmacological concentrations was supported by several in vitro and clinical studies, investigations of herbal homeopathic remedies on wound healing process are rare. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a commercial low potency homeopathic remedy Similasan® Arnica plus Spray on wound closure in a controlled, blind trial in vitro. METHODS: We investigated the effect of an ethanolic preparation composed of equal parts of Arnica montana 4x, Calendula officinalis 4x, Hypericum perforatum 4x and Symphytum officinale 6x (0712-2), its succussed hydroalcoholic solvent (0712-1) and unsuccussed solvent (0712-3) on NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. Cell viability was determined by WST-1 assay, cell growth using BrdU uptake, cell migration by chemotaxis assay and wound closure by CytoSelect ™Wound Healing Assay Kit which generated a defined "wound field". All assays were performed in three independent controlled experiments. RESULTS: None of the three substances affected cell viability and none showed a stimulating effect on cell proliferation. Preparation (0712-2) exerted a stimulating effect on fibroblast migration (31.9%) vs 14.7% with succussed solvent (0712-1) at 1:100 dilutions (p < 0.001). Unsuccussed solvent (0712-3) had no influence on cell migration (6.3%; p > 0.05). Preparation (0712-2) at a dilution of 1:100 promoted in vitro wound closure by 59.5% and differed significantly (p < 0.001) from succussed solvent (0712-1), which caused 22.1% wound closure. CONCLUSION: Results of this study showed that the low potency homeopathic remedy (0712-2) exerted in vitro wound closure potential in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. This effect resulted from stimulation of fibroblasts motility rather than of their mitosis.

Progress of experimental study on treatment of psoriasis by Chinese medicinal monomer and single or compound recipe in Chinese materia medica.

Psoriasis is a common, chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin disorder whose etiology is still unknown. It is believed that a multiple-gene inheritance is involved and it also involves various factors such as immunity, inflammation, cell proliferation, apoptosis, neural media, etc. Since cytokines are key mediators in inflammation, a number of Chinese medicines (CMs) have been reported to have certain antagonist effects on pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), platelet active factor (PAF) and interleukin-8 (IL-8). Some researches on CMs have made significant breakthroughs in psoriasis by intervening with cytokines. Abnormalities with keratinocyte proliferation and apoptosis are considered to be present in patients with psoriasis and a number of studies show that the mechanism of CMs on psoriasis may be through the inhibition of the keratinocyte proliferation and induction of apoptosis. Other studies also show that the inhibition of fibroblast-secreted cytokines could regulate keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation and reduce the level of Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in plasma and in lesions so as to slow down the process of inflammation and proliferation in psoriasis. The most commonly used models for psoriasis are the scaled tails or the vaginal epithelium of mice in China. They were used to observe the histopathological changes after the model mice were treated with CMs with the inhibition on the mitosis of vaginal epithelium or promotion of granular layer in rat tail taken as the indices of clinical efficacy. A variety of signs occur in psoriasis patients with TCM blood-stasis syndrome type and the effect of CMs in activating blood circulation to remove blood stasis on psoriasis suggested that the mechanism of CMs may be partially correlated to hemorrheology and microcirculation. Along with the continuous development of the biosciences, some TCM theories for psoriasis have been confirmed by laboratory studies. However, the exploration into traditional Chinese medicines' biomechanics in psoriasis and the therapeutic mechanism of CMs by integrative medicine still requires further studies.

[Regulation of calculus bovis on the function of mice oral fibroblasts].

To explore the influence of calculus bovis on the function of primary cultured mice oral fibroblasts, we determined the effects of calculus bovis on the fibroblast proliferation, collagen production, matrix metalloproteinases-2, -9 activities and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 production by MTT assay, chloramine T method, gelatin zymography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays respectively. The results showed that calculus bovis could significantly inhibit the proliferation of fibroblasts and collagen synthesis in a concentration dependent manner, could significantly (P<0.05) suppress matrix metalloproteinases-2 activity and very significantly (P<0.01) inhibit the production of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1. In conclusion, the major function of calculus bovis in the process of ulcer healing is not to promote tissue regeneration, the mechanism that calculus bovis inhibits collagen synthesis may be partly due to its ability to very significantly (P<0.01) suppress the production of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1.