An effective strategy for inhibition of cirrhosis

In China, the incidence of liver cirrhosis is still high, although new therapeutic approaches have recently been proposed, there is no established therapy for liver fibrosis, and Authors investigated the prevention effects of Chinese Medicine Qianggan-Rongxian Soup on liver fibrosis induced by DMN in rat. Chinese Medicin Qianggan-Rongxian decoction can inhibit hepatic fibrosis resulted from chronic liver injure, retard the development of cirrhosis, and notably ameliorate the liver function. It may be a safe and effective therapeutic drug for patients with fibrosis.

A research article to be published on 14 June 2008, in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Chun-Hui Li from affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medicine College studied the inhibitory effect of Huangqi Zhechong decoction on liver fibrosis in rat.

Qianggan-Rongxian decoction, especially the medium-dose administration could decrease the area-density percentage of collagen fibrosis. HA, LN, and type IV collagen are good serum markers of hepatic fibrosis. In this study, the serum contents of these 3 markers in the model group were much higher than those of the controls. And the Qianggan-Rongxian decoction groups had significantly low HA, LN, and type IV collagen levels in serum than those in the controls, ALT and AST are indexes to describe liver functions. Most part of ALT is presented in the cytoplasm of liver cell, discharged in blood when degeneration, hyper permeability and necrosis of liver cells occur. So the increase of ALT level in serum reflects the degree of liver cell injury. Our study showed that the Qianggan-Rongxian decoction could decrease serum levels of ALT and AST in rats with hepatic injury caused by DMN. It indicates that Qianggan-Rongxian decoction may work through protecting the liver cells, which indicated that Qianggan-Rongxian decoction could successfully prevent hepatic fibrosis.

The mechanism of DMN-induced liver fibrosis has been shown to be associated with immune function, which is similar to the mechanism of human liver fibrosis. Thus, DMN-induced rat liver fibrosis may be a useful model for determination of liver fibrosis during drug screenin. The mechanism of the Qianggan-Rongxian decoction may need further research.

This study may provide a safe and effective strategy for inhibition of cirrhosis in clinic use.

Reference: Li CH, Pan LH, Yang ZW, Li CY, Xu WX. Experimental study of prevention effect of Qianggan-Rongxian decoction on fibrosis in rat livers. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(22): 3569-3573.
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/3569.asp

Correspondence to: Chun-Hui Li, the department of pathology, affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medicine College, Chengde 067000, Hebei Province, China. chli612@yahoo.com.cn
Telephone: +86-314-2279447 Fax: +86-314-2270251

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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. It provides 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 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 title China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

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