title: Effect of Da-Cheng-Qi decoction on pancreatitis-associated lung injury in patients and anti-inflammatory responses in rat models.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The traditional herbal medicinal formula Da-Cheng-Qi decoction (DCQD) has long been used to treat pancreatitis in China; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether DCQD is beneficial to the patients with lung injury in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP); if it is, then to explore the lung protective effect of DCQD and the mechanism involved in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  DCQD was enema administered to 70 patients for 7 days. Mortality, (multi)organ failure during admission were observed, blood samples for laboratory analysis were drawn on admission, on Days 3, 7, and 14 of the treatment. We also experimentally examined the function of two doses of DCQD in SAP rat models. IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-10 mRNA expression in rat lungs was measured quantitatively by the RT-PCR method and confirmed by morphometric studies of the lungs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was demonstrated that the administration of DCQD did shorten the average time that patients suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Compared with untreated rats, the lungs of rats treated with DCQD showed significantly lower levels of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA. Rats treated with DCQD had lower mean pathological lung lesion scores than those in SAP rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DCQD has good prospects in the treatment for SAP because it did shorten the average time that patients suffered ARDS in the clinic. It exerts therapeutic effects on this disease through inhibiting the production of inflammatory mediators, decreasing the anti-inflammatory factors, and mitigating the pathological damage of the lung injury in SAP model.
authors: Department of Pharmacology, School of Preclinical and Forensic Medicine, West China Medical Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P.R. China.
authors: Jianlei
authors: J
authors: Zhao
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Wenfu
authors: W
authors: Tang
authors: Lihong
authors: L
authors: Wan
authors: Wenbi
authors: W
authors: Xiong
authors: Liming
authors: L
authors: Zhou