Selection of component drug in activating blood flow and removing blood stasis of Chinese herbal medicinal formula for dairy cow mastitis by hemorheological method

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Abstract

Objective

In order to select the component drug in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis of Chinese herbal medicinal formula for dairy cow mastitis.

Methods

25 healthy rabbits were allocated randomly into five equal groups. The rabbits in four experimental groups were administered with decoctions of giant knotweed rhizome (GKR, rhizoma polygoni cuspidati), safflower (SF, flos carthami), red sage root (RSR, radix salviae miltiorrhizae) and chuanxiong rhizome (CXR, rhizoma Chuanxiong) by gastrogavage, respectively, in control group, physiological saline, once a day for seven successive days. After the last administration, all rabbits were intravenously injected with 10% macromolecular dextran to induce blood stasis. The blood samples of all rabbits were collected before the first administration, at 2 h after the last administration and 1 h after injection of dextran, respectively for determination of hemorheologic parameters by MVIS-2035 hemorheology auto-analyzing system.

Results

The results showed that all of four kinds of herbs presented different degree of activating blood flow and removing blood stasis.

Conclusion

Red sage root was the best especially in resisting blood stasis induced by dextran, and would be selected as main component drug of the prescription for dairy cow mastitis.

Introduction

Mastitis is one of the most severe diseases in dairy cow despite the progress made in improving general udder health in recent years. Epidemiological studies have revealed that the main pathogens are bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Streptococcus agalactiae and so on. Unfortunately, treatment with antimicrobials was not successful with bacteriological cure rates varying between 0% and 80% (Melchior et al., 2006).

According to traditional Chinese medicinal theory (TCM theory), the most cases of mastitis are caused by ‘blood stasis’ so that suffered udder presents red, swelling, hot and painful and the milk becomes brownish or yellowish purulent with flakes or clots. Therefore, the treatment principle of mastitis is not only clearing away heat and toxic material, but also activating blood flow and removing blood stasis to alleviate tumefaction and pain (Zhou et al., 2003). Many Chinese herbal formulas have been used successfully to prevent and treat mastitis in China (Wang and Zhang, 2004). The drugs with the action of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis are necessary component in these formulas.

Giant knotweed rhizome (GKR, rhizoma polygoni cuspidati), safflower (SF, flos carthami), red sage root (RSR, radix salviae miltiorrhizae) and chuanxiong rhizome (CXR, rhizoma Chuanxiong) were widely used to cure “blood stasis”. Resveratrol and polydatin purified from GKR (Xue, 2000), Safflor yellow from SF (Shi and Liu, 2006), tanshinone and tanshinol from RSR (Chen and Zhu, 2005) and Chuanxiongzine from CXR are effective components and widely used for treating various kinds of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular system diseases in China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, etc. (Liang et al., 2005). The four kinds of herbs also appeared in many prescriptions for dairy cow mastitis (Wang and Zhang, 2004).

To prepare the new formula for the treatment of cow mastitis, based on our previous investigations (Lu et al., 2005), we have selected Huangbo (cortex phellodendri) and RSR among 14 kinds of herbs using bacteriostasis test in vitro on the major pathogenic bacteria causing cow mastitis. In order to select the main drug in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis of the formula for dairy cow mastitis, this paper compared the effect of the four kinds of herbs on hemorheology, taking the high molecular weight dextran-induced blood stasis in rabbits as model.

Section snippets

Preparation of drug solution reagents

GKR, SF, RSR and CXR were purchased from Dahua traditional Chinese medicine company, Nanjing, Jiangsu province and authenticated by the Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine of Nanjing Agricultural University according to Veterinary Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (Veterinary Pharmacopoeia commission of the People's Republic of China, 2005). Five hundred grams of each drug was extracted with 4.0 L water decocting twice, once a hour, and condensed into 1.0 g of crude

Effects of four drugs on normal hemorheological parameter

After the last administration, as compared with the before administraion, the whole blood viscosities at low shear rate (lWRV) and erythrocyte rigid coefficient (ERC) in GKR, SF and RSR groups were markedly smaller (Table 3, p < 0.05); HGB contents in GKR and SF groups were significantly larger (Table 2, p < 0.05); the rest hemorheological parameters had no significant change among experimental groups and the control group (Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, p > 0.05).

Effects of four drugs on stasis-induced hemorheological parameter

After injection of dextran, all

Discussion and conclusion

Hemorheology is the study of the relation of blood flow to pressure, flow volume, and resistance of blood vessel including blood viscosity, erythrocyte deformability, erythrocyte aggregability and blood platelet aggregation, which reflects the hemocircular status of the whole body and the developing process of diseases. Therefore, hemorheology is commonly used for diagnosis and prevention of disease and evaluation of the clinical therapeutic effect of drugs (Qin, 1999). Whole blood viscosity,

Acknowledgements

We thank Department of Hematology Nanjing General Hospital of PLA for hematological measurements, and all other staff in the Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine of Nanjing Agricultural University for their assistances in the experiments.

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