Effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine Ping Chuan Ke Li for the management of mild/moderate persistent asthma.

This study assessed the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal medicine Ping Chuan Ke Li (PCKL) for the treatment of patients with mild/ moderate persistent asthma.A total of 108 eligible patients with persistent asthma were included and were divided into a treatment group and a control group in this retrospective study. All 108 patients underwent oral montelukast. Additionally, subjects in the treatment group also received PCKL therapy. All patients in both groups were treated for a total of 1 month. The primary outcome of lung function was evaluated by the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC). The secondary outcome of quality of life was assessed by St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Moreover, adverse events (AEs) were also recorded in this study. All outcome measurements were assessed after 1-month treatment.After 1-month treatment, patients in the treatment group did not demonstrate better outcome in the improvement of lung function, measured by FEV1 (P =.57, table 2), and FEV1/FVC (P =.29); and enhancement of quality of life, measured by SGRQ scale (total, P =.37; symptom, P =.32; activity, P =.39; impact, P =.83). In addition, no AEs differ between 2 groups.The results of this study showed that Chinese herbal PCKL may not benefit for patients with mild/moderate persistent asthma after 1-month treatment.

Triptolide suppresses paraquat induced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting TGFB1-dependent epithelial mesenchymal transition.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and tumor are highly similar to abnormal cell proliferation that damages the body. This malignant cell evolution in a stressful environment closely resembles that of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). As a popular EMT-inducing factor, TGFß plays an important role in the progression of multiple diseases. However, the drugs that target TGFB1 are limited. In this study, we found that triptolide (TPL), a Chinese medicine extract, exerts an anti-lung fibrosis effect by inhibiting the EMT of lung epithelial cells. In addition, triptolide directly binds to TGFß and subsequently increase E-cadherin expression and decrease vimentin expression. In in vivo studies, TPL improves the survival state and inhibits lung fibrosis in mice. In summary, this study revealed the potential therapeutic effect of paraquat induced TPL in lung fibrosis by regulating TGFß-dependent EMT progression.

[Application and Thinking of Constitution Theory of Chinese Medicine in Stable Phase Chronic Ob- structive Pulmonary Disease].

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common respiratory disease, but seriously threatens to patients' body and mind. Constitutions of Chinese medicine (CM) are closely relat- ed to diseases. Individuals with different constitutions of CM have different responses to the same envi- ronment and the same pathogenic factor. Therefore, studying the application of constitution theory of CM in stable phase COPD is of great significance. In this paper clinical applications of constitution theory of CM in COPD were explored from etiology and mechanism, syndrome typing based treatment, prevention and care, aiming to prevent, diagnose, and treat COPD effectively.

[Effects of prenatal exposure to stress and lead on spatial learning and memory development in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of prenatal exposure to stress and lead on spatial learning and memory development in rats. METHODS: All 32 Sprague-Dawley (SD) pregnant rats were divided randomly into 4 groups, 8 per group in line with the Random Number Table. The four groups were: no maternal stress, no Pb exposure (NS/C); non-maternal stress, Pb exposure (NS/L), maternal stress, no Pb exposure (S/C), and maternal stress plus Pb exposure (S/L). The spatial learning and memory ability, the serum corticosterone level both pre and post-testing of 30-day old offsprings, and lead concentration in hippocampus were tested by means of Morris Water Maze, radioimmunoassay and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). RESULTS: The residence time of male and female in NS/L was (16.08+/-3.41) s, (15.72+/-3.33) s, which were significantly shorter than NS/L (25.42+/-4.76) s, (24.55+/-4.43) s and S/C (20.96+/-3.45) s, (20.65+/-2.98) s, and significant difference was observed in the joint exposure effect (F=5.478, P<0.05). The effect of the joint exposure was significant on post-testing serum corticosterone. The hippocampus lead concentrations of NS/L and S/L were (0.4378+/-0.1041) microg/g and (0.4679+/-0.1243) microg/g without significant differences (F=0.298, P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Prenatal joint exposure to restraint stress and lead might increase the effects of single exposure on the spatial learning and memory ability and serum corticosterone level of offsprings, and the joint influence on corticosterone level might be one of the reasons of further impairment of learning and memory.