Drug-induced activation of the nervous control of inflammation: a novel possibility for the treatment of hypoxic damage

San-Huang-Xie-Xin-Tang Constituents Exert Drug-Drug Interaction of Mutual Reinforcement at Both Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetic Level: A Review

Inflammatory disorders underlie varieties of human diseases. San-Huang-Xie-xin-Tang (SHXXT), composed with Rhizoma Rhei (Rheum palmatum L.), Rhizoma Coptidis (Coptis chinensis Franch), and Radix Scutellaria (Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi), is a famous formula which has been widely used in the fight against inflammatory abnormalities. Mutual reinforcement is one of the basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine. Here this article reviewed and analyzed the recent research on (1) How the main constituents of SHXXT impact on inflammation-associated signaling pathway molecules. (2) The interaction between the main constituents and efflux pumps or intestinal transporters. The goal of this work was to, (1) Provide evidence to support the theory of mutual reinforcement. (2) Clarify the key targets of SHXXT and suggest which targets need further investigation. (3) Give advice for the clinical use of SHXXT to elevated the absorption of main constituents and eventually promote oral bioavailability. We search literatures in scientific databases with key words of “each main SHXXT constituent,” in combination with “each main inflammatory pathway target molecule” or each main intestinal transporter, respectively. We report the effect of five main constituents on target molecules which lies in three main inflammatory signaling pathways, we as well investigate the interaction between constituents and intestinal transporter. We conclude, (1) The synergistic effect of constituents at both levels confirm the mutual reinforcement theory of TCM as it is proven in this work. (2) The effect of main constituents on downstream targets in nuclear need more further investigation. (3) Drug elevating the absorption of rhein, berberine and baicalein can be employed to promote oral bioavailability of SHXXT.

The anti-inflammatory selective melanocortin receptor subtype 4 agonist, RO27-3225, fails to prevent acoustic trauma-induced tinnitus in rats

In preliminary studies we have observed a massive microglial activation in the cochlear nucleus following acoustic trauma-induced tinnitus in rats, which suggests that inflammatory responses within the central auditory system may be involved in the development and maintenance of tinnitus. Recently, the anti-inflammatory properties of melanocortins (MCs), have gained increasing interest in pharmacology due to their promising therapeutic potential in the treatment of inflammatory-mediated diseases. Among the five subtypes of the MC receptor, MC3 and MC4 receptors are the predominant brain receptors and are thought to play an important role in brain inflammation and neuroprotection. Importantly, MC4 receptors have been found in the mouse and rat central auditory systems. In this study we investigated whether the MC4 receptor agonist, RO27-3225, injected s.c at a dose of 90 or 180µg/kg, 30min before acoustic trauma and then every 12h for 10 days, could prevent the development of acoustic trauma-induced tinnitus in rats, using a conditioned behavioural suppression model. Although evidence of tinnitus developed in the exposed-vehicle group compared to the sham-vehicle group (P≤0.03), in response to a 32kHz tone, there were no significant drug effects from treatment with RO27-3225, indicating that it did not confer any protection against the development of tinnitus in this animal model. This result suggests that the anti-inflammatory effects of MC4 receptor agonists may not be sufficient to prevent tinnitus.