Treatment effect of a traditional Chinese medicine, ren-shen-yang-rong-tang (Japanese name: ninjin-youei-to), on autoimmune MRL/MP-lpr/lpr mice.
MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr (MRL/lpr) mice were treated with a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, Ren-shen-yang-rong-tang (Japanese name: Ninjin-youei-to, NYT) intraperitoneally (i.p.) every 3 days or per os (p.o.) 6 times/week from before the onset of autoimmune disease (6 weeks of age). Fifty percent survival time was found in placebo-controlled male and female mice of 28 and 22 weeks of age, respectively. NYT-treatment markedly prolonged the survival time of MRL/lpr mice. That is, 50% survival time was 43 weeks in the i.p.-treated male mice and 30 weeks of age in the p.o.-treated female mice. Further, NYT-treatment significantly reduced occurrence of thymic atrophy and prevented the anomalous accumulation of B220+ T-cells in lymph node and spleen, both of which are characteristic in MRL/lpr mice. Moreover, grades of proteinuria were significantly reduced in both the i.p.- and p.o.-treated groups compared with the control groups. Such clinical benefit and increased survival time were interestingly not associated with the decrease in the level of autoantibodies.
Nakai
S
S
Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Laboratories, Kanebo Ltd, Osaka, Japan.
Kawakita
T
T
Zhou
N N
NN
Matsuura
K
K
Oka
M
M
Nagasawa
H
H
Saito
Y
Y
Suzuki
A
A
Himeno
K
K
Nomoto
K
K
D000818:Animals; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000652:urine; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D008206:Lymphatic Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000188:drug therapy; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000517:prevention & control; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000187:drug effects
D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C072867:ren-shen-yang-rong-tang