Huangbai liniment and berberine promoted wound healing in high-fat diet/Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Diabetic ulcer is a challenging complication of diabetes mellitus but current treatments cannot achieve satisfactory results. In this study, the effect of Huangbai liniment (HB) and berberine on the wound healing in high fat diet/streptozotocin injection induced diabetic rats was investigated by RNA-seq technology. HB topical treatment promoted wound healing in the diabetic patients and diabetic rats, and it affected multiple processes, of which IL-17 signalling pathway was of importance. Inhibiting IL-17a by its inhibitor or antibody remarkably facilitated wound healing and HB significantly repressed the high IL-17 expression and its downstream targets, including Cxcl1, Ccl2, Mmp3, Mmp9, G-CSF, IL1B and IL6, in diabetic wounds, promoted T-AOC, SOD activity and GSH levels; decreased the levels of nitrotyrosine and 8-OHdG; enhanced angiogenesis-related CD31, PDGF-BB and ANG1 expression; inhibited cleaved caspase-3 levels and promoted TIMP1 and TGFB1. Moreover, berberine (a major component in HB) repressed the IL-17 signalling pathway, and promoted wound healing in diabetes mellitus. This study highlights the strategy of targeting IL-17a in diabetic wounds, deepens the understanding of wound healing in diabetes mellitus in a dynamic way and reveals the characteristics of HB and berberine in promoting wound healing of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Chinese medicine ulcer oil promotes the healing of diabetic foot ulcers.

Objective This study aimed to investigate the mechanism by which Chinese herbal medicine ulcer oil (UO) accelerates ulcer healing in a diabetic ulcer rat model. Methods Sprague Dawley rats were allocated at random into four groups: a control group, a positive control group (PC), a UO treatment group and an ethacridine lactate solution treatment group. Subcutaneous tissue was surgically removed from the rats on days 3, 7 and 14. The levels of protein phosphotyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) were detected using western blot analysis. Results PTP1B protein expression was significantly lower in the UO group compared with the PC group. VEGF protein expression was significantly higher in the UO group than in the control group on day 3. PDGF protein expression in the UO group was significantly higher than in the PC group on day 3. AGE expression was significantly lower in the UO group than in the PC group. Conclusions UO may downregulate PTP1B and AGEs and upregulate VEGF and PDGF, which may contribute to the inhibition of the inflammatory response and promote the healing of diabetic foot ulcers.

[Effect of Chinese drugs for benefiting-qi, activating-blood, dissolving-phlegm and removing-toxin combined with conventional treatment in preventing and treating post-operative vascular restenosis in patients with diabetic lower extremity arterial disease underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty].

OBJECTIVE: To verify the clinical efficacy of Chinese drugs for benefiting-qi, activating-blood, dissolving phlegm and removing-toxin (CDs) Combined with Conventional Treatment on post-operative vascular restenosis in patients with diabetic lower extremity arterial disease (DLEAD) underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). METHODS: Fifty-six DLEAD patients underwent PTA of below-knee artery were assigned to the treatment group (32 patients) treated by basic therapy combined with CDs and the control group (24 patients) treated by basic therapy only. The changes in symptoms and signs, ankle/brachial index (ABI) and transcutaneous oxygen pressure (TCPO2) of affected limb, and blood flow (BF) in operated vessels checked with color Doppler examination were monitored and analyzed with SPSS software 16. 0. RESULTS: Overall effectiveness, including symptom score, ABI, TCPO2 and BF in patients after operation were all better in both groups significantly (P < 0.05), the improvements began to reveal in 3-6 months, and be stabilized in the treatment group, but declined gradually in the control group after then. So, the effective rate in the treatment group became significantly higher than that in the control group (75.00% vs. 41.67%, P < 0.01) at the end of the 6th month, meanwhile levels of ABI (0.65 +/- 0.12), TCPO2 (68.00 +/- 4.21 mm Hg), and BF (35.00 +/- 2.11 cm/s) in the former were better than those in the control group, respectively (0.44 +/- 0.12, 41.00 +/- 2.02 mm Hg and 21.00 +/- 1.85 cm/s, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: CDs shows definite effect in post-PTA prevention of vascular restenosis in DLEAD patients.

Survey on the hospitalization treatment status of acute myocardial infarction patients in 13 hospitals of western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine in Beijing / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To survey the treatment status and clinical features of hospitalized patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) of 13 hospitals in Beijing in 2005.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Uniform questionnaires were used to register AMI patients hospitalized from January 1 to December 31, 2005 in the 13 hospitals including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals (n = 6) and western medicine hospitals (WM, n = 7) from Beijing. A total of 1663 AMI patients were registered (1366 cases in WM hospitals and 297 cases in TCM hospitals). An Access database was established and patient information was input, the clinical features and treatment status of hospitalized AMI patients were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The mean age was (63.9 +/- 12.8) years old [(62.8 +/- 12.8) years for WM Hospitals and (69.1 +/- 11.8) years for TCM hospitals, P < 0.05], male to female ratio was 2.4:1 (2.7:1 for WM hospitals and 1.6:1 for TCM hospitals, P < 0.05). The median time to hospital was 14 hours in TCM hospitals and 11 hours in WM hospitals (P > 0.05). Incidences of history of cerebrovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and complications such as in-patient arrhythmia, cardiac insufficiency, cardiogenic shock were significantly higher in TCM hospitals than in WM hospitals. The total mortality of 1663 AMI cases was 8.2% (15.8% in TCM hospitals vs. 6.6% in WM hospitals, P < 0.01). The reperfusion rate including emergency PCI and thrombolytic therapy rate was 31.3% in 13 hospitals (33.3% in WM hospitals vs. 21.9% in TCM hospitals, P < 0.05). Percent of guideline recommend drug use for AMI was as follows: aspirin 93.6%, ACEI and ARB 85.1%, beta-blocker 78.7%, low molecular weight heparin 85.4%, statins 74.7%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Reperfusion therapy and guideline recommended drugs were widely used although there was a need for further improvement. The hospitalized mortality showed a downward trend compared with results from five years ago, patients in TCM hospitals had an independent clinical features.</p>