薬理と治療

Abstract

Objectives It is a common well known fact that blood flow stasis or stagnation induces pain and organ dysfunctions. Blood fluidity is an essential factor in the circulation system. The stagnation of blood fluidity is called“oketsu”in the oriental medicine, and“oketsu”is known to cause pain and equivocal symptom frequently. Keishibukuryogan（KB）is the representative Chinese medicine to improve oketsu. We previously demonstrated how stressors impair blood fluidity. In this study, we observed whether the Japanese herbal medicine, KB, used by “oketsu”patients, improves low blood flow induced by restraint stress. Methods We tested on SPF 8 weeks old male Wistar rats weighing 250 g. They were treated with the KB for 1 week. The rats were randomly divided into four medication groups Restraint－Normal feed group（RN）, Restraint－0.3％ or 3％ KB mixing feed group（RKB－0.3／RKB－3）, and Non restraint（control）－Normal feed group（CN）. Blood fluidity was measured with a Micro Channel Array Flow Analyzer（MC－FAN）. Platelet aggregation was examined by a platelet aggregometer（PA－20）. P－Selectin level in plasma was examined using commercially available enzyme linked－immunosorbent assay（ELISA）kits. Results In the RN, platelet aggregation and P－Selectin level were increased, while blood fluidity was decreased compared with the CN and RKB.Conclusion The results of this study suggest that KB improves blood fluidity to reduce platelet activity.