[Effect of a traditional herbal medicine, tokishakuyakusan, on the fetal development of the spontaneously hypertensive rat].
Forty-three pregnant spontaneously hypertensive rats were administered 1.5% saline and divided into 2 groups: The experimental group of 21 rats and the control group of 22 rats. The animals in the experimental group were administered daily 500 mg/kg of Tokishakuyakusan. No drug was administered to the animals in the control group. Systolic blood pressure measured from 4 to 18 days of pregnancy was similar in both the experimental and control groups. Mean (+/- S.E.) levels of blood viscosity in the experimental group measured on the 19th day of pregnancy were 13.6 +/- 1.6 centipoise (cp) at a shear rate of 0.5/sec and 3.5 +/- 0.1 cp at a shear rate of 230/sec and were significantly lower than those of the control group (19.1 +/- 1.6 cp at 0.5/sec, p less than 0.02; 4.4 +/- 0.2 cp at 230/sec, p less than 0.001). There were observed no significant differences in hematocrit, erythrocyte deformability and fibrinogen levels between two groups. There was observed no significant difference between the mean number in the litter in the 2 groups. The mean weight of the fetuses in the experimental group delivered on the 19th day of pregnancy was 2.4 +/- 0.1 g, being significantly heavier than that of the control group (2.0 +/- 0.0 g) (p less than 0.01). These results indicated that Tokishakuyakusan accelerated development of fetuses of hypertensive rats by utero-placental circulatory improvement which was caused by decreased maternal blood viscosity.
D000818:Animals; D001565:Benzoates; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D005960:Glucosides; D006027:Glycosides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008518:Medicine, East Asian Traditional; D039821:Monoterpenes; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000188:drug therapy*; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR
D001565:Benzoates; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D005960:Glucosides; D006027:Glycosides; D039821:Monoterpenes; C015423:peoniflorin