Study the Mechanism of Gualou Niubang Decoction in Treating Plasma Cell Mastitis Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

Treatment of lactational mastitis with Gualou Xiaoyong soup and painless lactation promoting technique: A case series

BACKGROUND

Lactational mastitis is a common and frequently disease in clinical practice, characterized by acute inflammation of the mammary ducts and surrounding connective tissues. The main manifestations are damage to the mammary gland acini, edema, and invasion of inflammatory cells. If not treated properly, it may lead to the formation of breast abscesses, or even sepsis, septic shock, and chronic inflammation of the breast, which may cause the disease to persist or recur multiple times, so that the patients suffer extreme pain, and the health of both the mother and child are directly affected. This disease not only causes suffering for women but also may result in the cessation of breastfeeding. Therefore, rapid and effective treatment is particularly important.

CASE SUMMARY

We report 3 cases of lactation mastitis patients showing good clinical efficacy after being treated with the Chinese medicine Gualou Xiaoyong soup and painless lactation promoting techniques. Gualou Xiaoyong soup combined with painless lactation promotion techniques can significantly reduce and eliminate the clinical symptoms of patients in the short term, and rapidly restore inflammatory indicators such as total white blood cells, neutrophils, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin to normal levels. The patchy low echo area of the breast under B-ultrasound also disappears quickly. Therefore, we believe that this method is a good way to treat lactational mastitis and is worthy of clinical reference and research. However, this study has certain limitations: this study lacks a large sample of prospective controlled studies. Next, we will continue to collect relevant cases and conduct prospective case randomized controlled clinical studies.

CONCLUSION

The treatment of lactation mastitis with Gualou Xiaoyong soup and painless lactation promoting techniques can achieve good clinical results.

Lactation breast abscess treated with Gualou Xiaoyong decoction and painless lactation manipulation: A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND

Breast abscess during lactation is a severe complication of acute mastitis, which can lead to discomfort, high fever, breast fistula, sepsis, septic shock, breast damage, disease persistence and frequent hospitalization. Breast abscesses may also lead the mother to discontinue breastfeeding, thereby harming the infant’s health. The predominant pathogenic bacteria are Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus. The incidence of breastfeeding abscesses in breastfeeding women ranges between 4.0% and 11.0%. In cases of breast abscess, the rate of cessation of lactation is 41.0%. In instances of breast fistula, the rate of cessation of lactation is very high (66.7%). Furthermore, 50.0% of women with breast abscesses must be hospitalized and treated with intravenous antibiotics. Treatment includes antibiotics, abscess puncture and surgical incision and drainage. The patients suffer from stress, pain and easily induced breast scarring; the disease’s progression is prolonged and recurrent, interfering with infant feeding. Consequently, it is crucial to discover an adequate cure.

CASE SUMMARY

A 28-year-old woman with a breast abscess was treated with Gualou Xiaoyong decoction and painless breast opening manipulation 24 d after cesarean delivery. On the 2^nd d of treatment, the patient’s breast mass was significantly reduced, the pain was significantly reduced, and the general asthenia was improved. All conscious symptoms disappeared after 3 d, breast abscesses faded after 12 d of treatment, inflammation images disappeared after 27 d, and normal lactation images were restored.

CONCLUSION

In treating breast abscesses during breastfeeding, the combination of Gualou Xiaoyong decoction and painless lactation provides a positive therapeutic impact. This disease’s treatment offers the advantages of a short course of treatment, no need to discontinue breastfeeding and the ability to rapidly mitigate symptoms, which can be used as a reference in clinical practice.

Plasma proteome responses in zebrafish following λ-carrageenan-Induced inflammation are mediated by PMN leukocytes and correlate highly with their human counterparts

Regulation of inflammation is a critical process for maintaining physiological homeostasis. The λ-carrageenan (λ-CGN) is a mucopolysaccharide extracted from the cell wall of red algae (Chondrus crispus) capable of inducing acute intestinal inflammation, which is translated into the production of acute phase reactants secreted into the blood circulation. However, the associated mechanisms in vertebrates are not well understood. Here, we investigated the crucial factors behind the inflammatory milieu of λ-CGN-mediated inflammation administered at 0, 1.75, and 3.5% (v/w) by i.p. injection into the peritoneal cavity of adult zebrafish (ZF) (Danio rerio). We found that polymorphonuclear leukocytes (neutrophils) and lymphocytes infiltrating the ZF peritoneal cavity had short-term persistence. Nevertheless, they generate a strong pattern of inflammation that affects systemically and is enough to produce edema in the cavity. Consistent with these findings, cell infiltration, which causes notable tissue changes, resulted in the overexpression of several acute inflammatory markers at the protein level. Using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography followed by a hybrid linear ion-trap mass spectrometry shotgun proteomic approach, we identified 2938 plasma proteins among the animals injected with PBS and 3.5% λ-CGN. First, the bioinformatic analysis revealed the composition of the plasma proteome. Interestingly, 72 commonly expressed proteins were recorded among the treated and control groups, but, surprisingly, 2830 novel proteins were differentially expressed exclusively in the λ-CGN-induced group. Furthermore, from the commonly expressed proteins, compared to the control group 62 proteins got a significant (p < 0.05) upregulation in the λ-CGN-treated group, while the remaining ten proteins were downregulated. Next, we obtained the major protein-protein interaction networks between hub protein clusters in the blood plasma of the λ-CGN induced group. Moreover, to understand the molecular underpinnings of these effects based on the unveiled protein sets, we performed a bioinformatic structural similarity analysis and generated overlapping 3D reconstructions between ZF and humans during acute inflammation. Biological pathway analysis pointed to the activation and abundance of diverse classical immune and acute phase reactants, several catalytic enzymes, and varied proteins supporting the immune response. Together, this information can be used for testing and finding novel pharmacological targets to treat human intestinal inflammatory diseases.