¡°Qingyitang¡±, a representative prescription of Traditional Chinese Medicine for SAP was widely used in the orients countries. But its real pharmacological mechanisms of protective effects on SAP have not been investigated still now. Baicalin, the most effective monomer of Baical skullcap root (an essential Traditional Chinese Medicine of ¡°Qingyitang¡±), which have been proved a protective effects on renal injury of rats with SAP. The research was recently published on October 14 issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology because of its great significance for SAP.
It has been confirmed that Baicalin has anti-bacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities in vitro. It also can inhibit platelet aggregation and eliminate oxygen-free radicals. Animal experiments show that Baicalin could reduce the generation of endotoxin. In addition, Baicalin has potent effect in inhibiting pancreatin which is the initial metabolite of Baicalin. All these pharmacologic actions can inhibit SAP during its multiple stages.
The research team led by Dr. Zhang Xiping from the first people's hospital of Hangzhou and second affiliated hospital of Zhejiang university spent more than five years working with experimental SAP of rats by the intravenous injection of Baicalin treatment. With the large dosage of baicalin treatment, the rats' survival rate, renal function indexes, renal gross changes and lightmicroscopic changes and its severity scores was greatly improved in end. The article clarified that the therapeutic mechanisms might be related to the inhibition of inflammatory mediators and induction of renal cells apoptosis by the application of tissue microarray technique.
Compared with the Octreotide, the most effective drug in the treatment of SAP, the large dosage Baicalin has equally effective as octreotide in terms of reduction of renal pathological alterations of rats with SAP. But for Octreotide, It is difficult to popularize especially in remote areas with poor economy since it features high price, short half-life and inconvenient administration, while Baicalin features low price, extensive routes of administration and preparation, multiple pharmacologic actions and precise therapeutic effects.
So the Baicalin might be a promising therapeutic medicines in the treatment of SAP despite there are still many works to be done future.
Reference: Zhang XP, Tian H, Lai YH, Chen L, Zhang L, Cheng QH, Yan W, Li Y, Li QY, He Q, Wang F. Protective effects and mechanisms of Baicalin and octreotide on renal injury of rats with severe acute pancreatitis. World J Gastroenterol 2007; 13(38): 5079-5089
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/5079.asp
Correspondence to: Xi-ping Zhang, MD, Department of General Surgery, Hangzhou First People¡¯s Hospital,261 Huansha Road. Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang province, China. zxp99688@vip.sina.163.com
Telephone: +86-571-87065701 Fax: +86-571-87914773
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World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection for providing a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.
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