ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo observe the effectivenss and safety of Yiqi Huoxue Formula （益气活血方） combined with surgery and sequential therapy of estrogen and progesterone for the treatment of intrauterine adhesion with syndrome of qi deficiency and blood stasis. MethodsSixty-four patients with intrauterine adhesions were recruited in Guang'anmen Hospital， China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences during 1st June 2021 to 31st December 2022， and they were randomly divided into two groups， with 32 patients in each group， all receiving transcervical resection of adhesions （TCRA）. The control group was treated with sequential therapy of estrogen and progesterone after surgery， taking 1 tablet orally daily， estradiol tablets for the first 14 days， and estradiol dydrogesterone tablets for the last 14 days. In the treatment group， the postoperative treatment was combined with Yiqi Huoxue Formula on the basis of the treatment in the control group， and 1 dose was taken daily. The treatment course of both groups was 3 months. We observed the clinical effectiveness， syndrome scores of traditional Chinese Medicine （TCM）， endometrial thickness， uterine adhesion score， menstrual flow points， and the re-adhesion rate and pregnancy rate 3 months after the end of treatment of the two groups， and conducted evaluation on safety. ResultsThe total clinical effectiveness rates of the treatment group and the control group were 90.63% and 75.00%， respectively， significantly better in the treatment group （P＜0.05）. The endometrial thickness and menstrual flow of patients in both groups increased after treatment， and the scores of uterine adhesion and TCM syndrome scores decreased significantly （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. After treatment， the uterine adhesion score and TCM syndrome scores of the treatment group decreased significantly compared with the control group （P＜0.05）. The 6-month postoperative pregnancy rate in the treatment group was 37.50%， higher than the 12.50% in the control group （P＜0.05）. The re-adhesion rate was 3.13% in the treatment group and 9.38% in the control group， and the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant （P＞0.05）. No adverse events occurred in both groups. ConclusionYiqi Huoxue Formula combined with surgery and sequential therapy of estrogen and progesterone for treating intrauterine adhesion patients with syndrome of qi deficiency and blood stasis can promote endometrial recovery， increase menstrual flow， improve patients' clinical symptoms， and improve pregnancy rate， showing certain clinical effectiveness and safety.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effects of oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC) in mice exposed to paraquat (PQ) , and to explore the molecular mechanism.@*Methods@#Four experimental groups were designed. Control group: 10 BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with normal saline) . PQ group: 10 BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with PQ (100 mg/kg) . PQ+OPC group: 10 BALB/c mice were administered with OPC (100 mg/kg) for 1 h before PQ (100 mg/kg) expo-sure. OPC group: 10 BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with OPC (100 mg/kg) . The peripheral blood samples or lung tissue samples were collected at the designed time points for measuring the levels of oxi-dative stress indicators, the related protein levels of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway and nuclear fac-tor erythroid related factor-2 (Nrf2) pathway.@*Results@#Compared with the control group, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) , the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the PQ group were significantly induced, and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the PQ group was decreased in the peripheral blood. As com-pared with the PQ group, the level of ROS and the content of MDA in the PQ+OPC group were significantly re-duced, the activity SOD in the PQ+OPC group was increased in the peripheral blood; the level of ROS and the content of MDA were also reduced in lung tissues in the PQ+OPC group. Moreover, compared with the con-trol group, the phosphorylation of IκBα and the expression of NF-κB p65 were increased in lung tissues in the PQ group. The phosphorylation of IκBα and the expression of NF-κB p65 were decreased in lung tissues in the PQ+OPC group as compared with the PQ group. In addition, compared with the control group, the expressions of HO-1 and Nrf2 were increased in lung tissues in OPC group, and these were decreased in lung tissues in PQ groups. Furthermore, the expressions of HO-1 and Nrf2 were also increased in lung tissues in PQ+OPC as com-pared with the PQ group.@*Conclusion@#OPC could alleviate PQ-induced systemic toxicity in mice by regulating oxidative stress via NF-κB and Nrf2 pathway.