Pueraria lobata Targeted Preparation Improves the Clinical Symptoms of Cervical Spondylosis by Regulating the Balance of Gut Microbiota.

BACKGROUND: Nanotargeted preparations can enhance the safety and effectiveness of medication by altering the pharmacokinetic behavior of drugs in the human body, and Pueraria lobata is shown to be effective in the treatment of neck and back pain. PURPOSE: This study prepared a nano-Pueraria targeted preparation, in order to analyze its effect on improving the clinical symptoms of cervical spondylosis by adjusting the balance of intestinal flora. METHODS: A total of 200 patients with cervical spondylosis admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine were enrolled and divided into an observation group and a control group. The control group was given Tuina therapy, and the observation group was given nano-Pueraria targeted preparation + Tuina therapy. The clinical symptoms and intestinal microflora of the two groups were examined before intervention. RESULTS: It was found that the markedly effective of treatment efficacy of the observation group (98%) was higher than that of the control group (78%) after 15 days of intervention, and the clinical symptoms were obviously fewer than those of the control group. The distribution of gut microbiota showed that there were significant differences in the composition of gut microbiota between the two groups. Compared with the control group, the abundance of Firmicutes in the observation group was significantly higher, while the abundance of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria was significantly lower. CONCLUSION: The targeted preparation of nano-Pueraria can improve the clinical symptoms of patients with cervical spondylosis by adjusting the balance of gut microbiota.

Effect of chiropractic manipulation on disrupted epithelium barrier and its mechanism of specialized pro-resolving mediators in a spleen-deficiency murine model.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of spleen deficiency on the epithelial barrier of jejunum and lungs in a rat model of spleen-deficiency and the effect and potential specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) mechanism of chiropractic manipulation. METHODS: Three-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into normal control group (n = 6), spleen-deficiency group (n = 5) and chiropractic group (n = 6). Spleen-deficiency model was induced in spleen-deficiency group and chiropractic group. Moreover, chiropractic manipulation was performed in chiropractic group. Four weeks later, systemic Th1/Th2 balance was evaluated by the ratio of plasma interferon (IFN)-γ/interleukin (IL)-4 levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Epithelial barrier integrity were assessed by the observation of morphological changes by hematoxylin-eosin staining and zonula occludens (ZO)-1 gene expressions by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction in jejunum and lungs. Plasma resolvin D1 (RvD1) and lipoxin A4 (LXA4) levels were measures by ELISA for endogenous SPMs production. The levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) in jejunum and lungs were also measured by HPLC-MS/MS. RESULTS: Comparing with normal control group, spleen-deficiency group showed disrupted mucosa in jejunum, inflammatory condition in lungs, significantly decreased ratio of plasma IFN-γ/IL-4 levels and lower expressions of ZO-1 mRNA in both jejunum and lung tissues. Comparing with spleen-deficiency group, chiropractic group had less disrupted mucosa in jejunum and inflammatory condition in lungs, significantly increased systemic ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4 and expressions of ZO-1 mRNA in both jejunum and lung tissues. Chiropractic group had significantly enhanced plasma levels of RvD1 and LXA4, but had no significantly higher levels of DHA and AA in jejunum and lungs when comparing with spleen-deficiency group. CONCLUSION: Spleen deficiency caused systemic Th1/Th2 imbalance towards Th2 polarization and epithelial barrier disruption in jejunum and lungs. Chiropractic manipulation helped enhance endogenous SPMs production, which might be one of the action mechanism of chiropractic manipulation on the improvement of epithelial barrier disruption.