“Meridian tropism” refers to the organ-specific
biological action(s) produced by a Chinese
herb following its oral administration, which is analogous to the concept of “bioavailability” 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 [i.e. 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 - 300 μg/mL) can both stimulate the
proliferation of primary mouse splenocytes in vitro and increase
adenosine triphosphate-generation capacity (ATP-GC) in cultured Caco 2 colon
epithelial cells in vitro.
Interestingly, oral administration of DS and RS (but not XYS, at 3 and 6
g/kg/day × 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 “Shen”, i.e., the accessibility of DS and RS
(but not XYS) to the “Spleen” 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.
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