Suanzaoren Decoction for the treatment of chronic insomnia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Suanzaoren decoction (SZRD) in Traditional Chinese Medicine is a common prescription for chronic insomnia. This study systematically and accurately evaluated the safety and efficacy of SZRD in the treatment of chronic insomnia, thus providing a reference for its clinical application. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From the establishment of the corresponding database until May 2022, we systematically queried EMbase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang Database. Randomized control trials (RCTs) were included in this study, and the results that qualified for inclusion were screened and cross-checked by two researchers. After the relevant data were extracted, a meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: A total of 1,311 patients with chronic insomnia from 12 RCTs were enrolled in the meta-analysis, showing that the use of SZRD alone or in combination was superior to the control group in improving the clinical effective rate (RR=1.22, 95%CI [1.16, 1.29], p<0.00001), reducing the recurrence rate (RR=0.47, 95%CI [0.28, 0.80], p=0.005), and lowering the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores (MDSZRD+WM=-3.35,95%CI [-5.22, -1.47], p<0.00001); (MDSZRD=-1.94, 95%CI [-3.80, -0.07], p = 0.04). SZRD also could reduce the adverse effects rate (RR=0.30, 95% CI [0.22, 0.40], p<0.00001). CONCLUSIONS: It was therefore concluded that SZRD alone or in combination with Western medicine can increase the clinical effective rate, reduce the recurrence rate, improve the quality of life of chronic insomnia patients, and decrease the incidence of adverse effects. However, studies included in this analysis varied in quality, and more large-sample, high-quality, multi-center RCTs are still needed to verify the above conclusions.

Therapeutic effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on mastitis experimentally induced by lipopolysaccharide in lactating goats.

Escherichia coli is a cause of subclinical and clinical mastitis in dairy cattle and goats, and sometimes causes severe clinical disease that may result in death of the animal. Previous investigation showed that ginsenoside Rg1 extracted from Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (Araliaceae) has an anti-inflammatory effect on the sepsis induced by E. coli lipopolysaccharide via competitive binding to toll-like receptor 4. We hypothesized that intravenous injection of Rg1 had therapeutic effect on mastitis experimentally induced by intramammary infusion of lipopolysaccharide in lactating goats. In this study, 9 lactating goats were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 groups: (1) lipopolysaccharide intramammary infusion + saline intravenous injection, (2) lipopolysaccharide intramammary infusion + Rg1 intravenous injection, and (3) saline intramammary administration + saline intravenous injection. Because no adverse clinical signs were observed after intramammary infusion of saline and intravenous injection of Rg1 in a preliminary experiment, and available qualified goats were limited in this study, this treatment was not included in this study. One udder half of each goat received intramammary infusion of lipopolysaccharide (50 µg/kg of body weight; groups 1 and 2) or saline solution (group 3), and the other half was infused with 2 mL of saline solution at h 0. Afterward, intravenous injections of saline solution (groups 1 and 3) or Rg1 (2.5 mg/kg of body weight; group 2) were administered at h 2 and 4 post-lipopolysaccharide challenge. Blood and milk samples were collected 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 48, and 72 h post-lipopolysaccharide challenge, and clinical signs were monitored hourly after lipopolysaccharide challenge within the first 10 h and at the same time points as blood samples. The results showed that Rg1 treatment downregulated rectal temperature, udder skin temperature, udder girth, milk somatic cell count, and N-acetyl-ß-d-glucosaminidase and upregulated milk production, lactose, and recovered blood components, such as white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, total proteins, albumin, and globulin. Considering the positive therapeutic effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced mastitis in goats presented in this study as well as the anti-inflammatory activity found previously, the botanical Rg1 deserves further study as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of E. coli mastitis in dairy animals.

Effect of ultrasonic treatment on the total phenolic and antioxidant activity of extracts from citrus peel.

Application of ultrasound to extract a variety of biologically active compounds from plant materials has been widely investigated. However, there are few reports on the local effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the yields of these compounds. In the present article, the local effect of ultrasonic treatment on total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activities (ATT) of extracts from citrus peels was investigated. To optimize the extraction process, a response surface methodology (RSM) was used to evaluate the effects of ultrasonic variables including ultrasonic power, ultrasonic time, and extraction temperature on extracts from penggan (Citrus reticulata) peel. The results showed that TPC and ATT increased on increasing ultrasonic time and temperature. The maximum of TPC and ATT by ultrasonic treatment was observed in near ultrasonic irradiation surface, in which ultrasonic power appeared to be positive effect. Furthermore, when the effect of the 3 independent variables was evaluated simultaneously using RSM, the optimal ultrasonic conditions for responses were determined as: 42 to 45 W, 23 to 25 min, 31 to 34 degrees C. The results presented here emphasized that application of ultrasound should be considered both the optimization of ultrasonic variables and available ultrasonic device.

[Studies on protective effect of total flavonoids of Astragalus on liver damage induced by paracetamol].

OBJECTIVE: To study the protective effect of total flavonoids of Astragalus (TFA) on the liver against large doses of paracetamol in mice. METHOD: After oral administration of TFA or Vitamin C 1 h prior to giving large dose of paracetamol in mice, the changes of paracetamol-induced mortality rate, serum enzyme level and liver damage degree were observed. RESULT: Paracetamol produced 80% mortality, within 24 hours of the administration of a dose of 1000 mg.kg-1 to the mice. Pre-treatment of the animals with TFA (100 mg.kg-1) or Vitamin C (1,000 mg.kg-1) reduced the death rate to 20% and 0% respectively. There was also a significant rise in the serum enzyme level of alanine transaminase (P < 0.001) and the area of liver necrosis (P < 0.001), 24 h after paracetamol (400 mg.kg-1) treatment. With pre-treatment with either TFA or Vitamin C, there was an obvious dose-dependent decrease in ALT levels and the area of hepatocellular necrosis. CONCLUSION: TFA has potential protecting effect against the paracetamol-induced hepatic damage.

[Protection against paracetamol-induced hepatic damage using total flavonoids of Astragalus].

OBJECTIVE: To study the mechanism of the protection by total flavonoids of Astragalus protection against paracetamol-induced hepatic damage. METHOD: Analysing paracetamol and its metabolites in mice urine by HPLC and studying the mechanism of anti-damage induced by paracetamol using experiment module of pentobarbital-induced sleeping time. RESULT: Administration of large doses of paracetamol to C57BL/6J mice produced significant hepatic injury with marked elevation in serum ALT activity and severe hepatocellular necrosis. TFA showed a good protective capability against paracetamol-induced hepatic injury. TFA had no marked effect on paracetamol and its metabolites except for the mercapturate-conjugate. The concentration of mercapturate change decreased with increasing TFA dose. TFA had no effect on the pentobarbital metabolites (P > 0.05). However, paracetamol (400 mg.kg-1) prolonged the sleeping time (by 110 min relative to the controls, P < 0.001). The TFA (P < 0.005) caused significant reduction in paracetamol-prolonged pentobarbital-induced sleep. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanism of TFA's protective effect against the paracetamol-induced damage may be related to the inhibition of some metabolism progress of paracetamol and the reduction of the toxicity metabolite such as mercapturate-conjugate.