title: Hepatoprotective effects of marine and kuhuang in liver transplant recipients.
abstract: We aimed to assess the effects of traditional Chinese medicine; marine (MT) and kuhuang (KH), either alone or in combination, on the early graft function of the recipients and overall patient survival rate after liver transplantation (LT) by using diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG) as a positive control. A total of 151 subjects undergoing LT were included in this prospective study. According to the different regimens given in the first two post-transplant weeks, they were divided into DG group (n = 49), DG + KH group (n = 36), MT group (n = 42) and MT + KH group (n = 24). The graft function in the early post-transplant period and patient survival rate were examined. During the first two post-transplant weeks, there was no significant difference in total bilirubin, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, serum creatinine, and prothrombin time between MT group and DG group. Patient survivals in these two groups were also similar. Compared to DG group, DG + KH group showed a significantly lower total bilirubin value on post-transplant day 5 (3.2 +/- 2.1 mg/dL vs. 5.7 +/- 5.6 mg/dL, p < 0.01) and day 7 (2.8 +/- 1.8 mg/dL vs. 5.8 +/- 6.1 mg/dL, p < 0.01), and higher patient survival. There was no significant difference between DG + KH group and MT + KH group. In conclusion, MT provides an alternative to DG after LT. The combination of MT and KH is highly effective in decreasing the total blirubin in the early post-transplant period and improving patient survival.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Zeng-Lei
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Hai-Yang
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Shu-Sen
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000470:Alkaloids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000378:metabolism*; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D019695:Glycyrrhizic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000187:drug effects*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology*; D019684:Magnoliopsida; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020011:Protective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011516:Prothrombin / Q000378:metabolism; D011807:Quinolizines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014166:Transferases / Q000378:metabolism; D000093842:Matrines
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D020011:Protective Agents; D011807:Quinolizines; D019695:Glycyrrhizic Acid; D011516:Prothrombin; D003404:Creatinine; D014166:Transferases; D001663:Bilirubin; D000093842:Matrines