%0 Journal Article
%T Pharmacological Investigation of ˇ°Meridian Tropismˇ± in Three ˇ°Shenˇ± Chinese Herbs
%A Pou-Kuan Leong
%A Hoi-Yan Leung
%A Wing-Man Chan
%A Kam-Ming Ko
%J Chinese Medicine
%P 121-135
%@ 2151-1926
%D 2019
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/cm.2019.104007
%X ˇ°Meridian tropismˇ± refers to the organ-specific
biological action(s) produced <span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\">by a Chinese
herb following its oral administration, which is analogous to the</span><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\"> concept of ˇ°bioavailabilityˇ± in Western medicine. In this study, we compared
the in vitro and ex vivo pharmacological actions of three herbs [namely,
Dangshen (DS, Codonopsis Radix), Ranshen (RS, Ginseng Radix) and Xiyangshen
(XYS, Panacis Qinquifolii Ra-dix)] to validate their meridian tropism. We
compared the in vitro and ex vivo pharmacological actions [</span><i><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\">i.e.</span></i><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\"> the ability to increase splenocyte proliferation and adenosine
triphosphate-generation capacity (ATP-GC)] of the ethanolic extracts of DS, RS
and XYS to validate their meridian tropism. Results showed that DS, RS and XYS
(at 30</span><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\"> - 300 ¦Ěg/mL) can both stimulate the
proliferation of primary mouse sple</span><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\">nocytes in vitro and increase
adenosine triphosphate-generation capacity (ATP-GC) in cultured Caco 2 colon
epithelial cells </span><i><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\">in vitro</span></i><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\">.
Interestingly, oral administration of DS and RS (but not XYS, at 3 and 6
g/kg/day ˇÁ 3 consecutive days) was found to stimulate the proliferation of
splenocytes ex vivo at 24 h post-treatment in mice. Similarly, DS and RS (but
not XYS) increased the ATP-GC of mitochondrial fractions isolated from a small
segment of mouse intestine at 48 h post-treatment. This observation is
consistent with the meridian tropism of the pharmacological action of ˇ°Shenˇ±, </span><i><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\">i.e.</span></i><span style=\"font-family:Verdana;\">, the accessibility of DS and RS
(but not XYS) to the ˇ°Spleenˇ± meridian. The comparison between the results
obtained from in vitro and in vivo/ex vivo bioassays may offer a potential
method for assessing meridian tropism in Chinese herbs.</span>
%K Codonopsis Radix
%K Ginseng Radix
%K Panacis Qinquifolii Radix
%K ATP-Generation Capacity
%K Splenocyte Proliferation
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=96532