A mini review of traditional chinese medicine for the treatment of depression in china.

Am J Chin Med. 2009; 37(2): 207-13Zhao H, Wan X, Chen JXTo systematically evaluate the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine for treating depression in China, the electronic medical database from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) was searched using Chinese and the date is set, from 1st January 1994 to 1st August 2008. The 18 studies that met the entry criteria along with 1,260 randomized patients were included in this review. All studies with words like "randomization" or "quasi-randomization" in their abstracts were included, whether they used blinding or not. The results showed that the Chinese medicine treated group did not decrease the scores of the self-rating depression scale (-1.02, 95% CI -2.16 ~ 0.12, p = 0.08) and the scores of the Hamilton depression scale (-0.45, 95% CI -0.98 ~ 0.08, p = 0.10). The results showed there is no evidence to support that traditional Chinese medicine for depression has improved, which may be due to the low quality in all the trials. Therefore, more qualified, randomized controlled clinical trials are warranted to assure its efficacy.

Targeting BuChE-inflammatory Pathway by SK0506 to Manage Type 2 Diabetes and Alzheimer Disease.

Neurochem Res. 2009 Jun 7; Kamal MA, Tan Y, Seale JP, Qu XType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) affect a large percent of the population worldwide. Experimental studies have revealed that T2DM and AD share several molecular processes that underlie their respective degenerative pathology. Based on this information, we quantified TNF-alpha, IL-6 levels, serum glucose, serum triglyceride, hepatic triglyceride, serum AST, serum ALT and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) in various rat tissues. HFD was fed to rats resulting in increased body weight, fasting blood glucose, IL-6, TNF-alpha levels, hepatic triglyceride, serum AST, serum ALT and BuChE. SK0506 treatment significantly prevented weight gain induced by HFD feeding. SK0506, but not Rosiglitazone, significantly reduced serum and hepatic triglycerides levels. Treatment with SK0506 also ameliorated elevated levels of both inflammatory markers (TNF-alpha and IL-6) and serum liver enzymes (ALT and AST) significantly in HFD fed rats. BuChE activity also reduced in skeletal muscle and adipose tissues of rats treated by SK0506. In conclusion, current study has opened new potential avenues towards research for management of T2DM and AD by Chinese herbal extracts, "SK0506".

Antioxidant effect of tianwang buxin pills a traditional chinese medicine formula: double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Am J Chin Med. 2009; 37(2): 227-39Gim GT, Kim HM, Kim J, Kim J, Whang WW, Cho SHReactive oxygen species (ROS) and their derivatives play important roles in the development of diseases such as, cardiovascular disease, ischemic disease, and aging. Much effort has been devoted to finding both an effective and non-toxic antioxidant traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbal formula. Tianwang Buxin Pills (TBPs) have been used in TCM to treat mild cognitive impairment and palpitations. Recently, research has revealed that TBPs are effective against oxidative stress and psychological stress in experimental studies. However, randomized controlled trials (RCT) are rare. This study was conducted to assess the antioxidative and anti-stress effects of TBPs by analyzing (determination) reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs test) of the blood, the stress response inventory (SRI), and the Korean version of the WHO Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF) in 39 healthy volunteers (Placebo group = 20, TBPs group = 19) before and after oral administration of TBPs for 4 weeks. However, d-ROMs test, SRI, and WHOQOL-BREF values did not differ significantly between the two groups. These results indicate that TBPs do not effectively restrain ROS or their derivatives.

Reduction of beta-Asarone in Acori Rhizoma by Decoction.

Planta Med. 2009 Jun 8; Chen C, Spriano D, Meier Bbeta-Asarone, the major constituent of the essential oil from the traditional Chinese herbal drug "Acori rhizoma" is regarded as carcinogenic in rodents and potentially genotoxic. Thus, the limit for the ingestion of this constituent from herbal medicinal products has been set at 0.115 mg beta-asarone/person/day. The present study demonstrates that a decoction procedure, traditionally used for Chinese herbal preparations and intended as the standard procedure in Ph. Eur., was able to significantly reduce the amount of beta-asarone. HPLC analysis indicated that the content of beta-asarone in dried herbal drug ranged from 15.22 to 25.34 mg/g. During a 1-hour decoction, the amount of beta-asarone decreased more than 85 % and the aqueous extract contained the equivalent of only 0.46-2.19 mg beta-asarone per gram of herbal drug. If this aqueous extract was heated for a further 2 hours, the final content of beta-asarone was reduced to the equivalent of no more than 0.005 mg per gram of herbal drug. This low level of beta-asarone should be acceptable for therapeutic use. It was noted that decoction of Acori rhizoma in the presence of other herbal substances impaired, to some extent, the reduction in beta-asarone.

Inhibitory effect of eupatilin and jaceosidin isolated from Artemisia princeps on carrageenan-induced inflammation in mice.

J Ethnopharmacol. 2009 Jun 5; Min SW, Kim NJ, Baek NI, Kim DHETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Artemisia princeps Pampanini (family Asteraceae) is an herbal medicine widely used as a hepatoprotective, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial agent in Korea, China, and Japan. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to elucidate the anti-inflammatory effect of the main constituents, eupatilin and jaceosidin, isolated from Artemisia princeps. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used carrageenan-induced inflammation in an air pouch on the back of mice and carrageenan-induced hind paw edema in rats to determine the anti-inflammatory effects of eupatilin and jaceosidin. Inflammatory makers-, such as expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, and activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB), were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and immunoblot analyses. RESULTS: Eupatilin and jaceosidin blocked carrageenan-induced increase in leukocyte number and protein levels in air pouch exudates. Eupatilin and jaceosidn inhibited COX-2 expression and NF-kappaB activation, and markedly reduced TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE(2)) levels. They also inhibited hind paw edema induced by carrageenan. Eupatilin and jaceosidin had similar activity. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that eupatilin and jaceosidin may reduce inflammation by inhibiting NF-kappaB activation, and that Artemisia princeps inhibits inflammation because of these constituents.