Unsei-in inhibits rheological activity of leukocytes: mechanism of action in neutrophil-related skin diseases.
To investigate the efficacy of Unsei-in on skin diseases such as Behçet's disease, palmoplantar pustulosis and psoriasis vulgaris, the rheological activity of leukocytes as manifested by adhesiveness, deformability and aggregability was studied in vitro using a micropore filtration method. Unsei-in inhibited the rheological activity of leukocytes at a statistical significance of p < 0.01 in normal individuals whose leukocytes had been stimulated with N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). It did not, however, inhibit the activity of cells that had not been stimulated by FMLP. In contrast, in Behçet's disease, Unsei-in inhibited rheological activity of non-stimulated leukocytes (p < 0.01) but did not inhibit the rheological activity of FMLP-stimulated leukocytes. In a study using Ouren-gedoku-to and Shimotsu-to, the main constituents of Unsei-in, the latter inhibited the activity of FMLP-stimulated leukocytes in normal individuals (p < 0.02). These results indicate that Unsei-in has an inhibitory effect on rheologically-activated neutrophils, which are involved in the healing mechanisms of the above skin diseases, and it also has a satisfactory effect in the form of a mixture of Shimotsu-to and Ouren-gedoku-to.
Iijima
S
S
Division of Dermatology, Mito Red Cross Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan.
Otsuka
F
F
Kikuchi
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005374:Filtration; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000187:drug effects*; D012212:Rheology / Q000187:drug effects; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013997:Time Factors
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine