title: Bidirectional effects of methanol extract of Wei-Chang-An pill on gastrointestinal transit and the spasmolytic activity on isolated rat jejunum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wei-Chang-An pill (WCA pill), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been used for treating various gastrointestinal diseases for several decades. Despite the popular medicinal use of WCA pill, less data was available to its activity and mechanism in gastrointestinal disorders. To examine the effects of the methanol extract of WCA pill (ME) on gastrointestinal tract so as to assess some of the possible mechanisms involved in the clinical treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  ME was studied on gastrointestinal transit in vivo including gastric emptying and small intestinal motility in normal and neostigmine-induced mice, as well as on the isolated tissue preparations of rat jejunum in vitro.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In vivo, the gastric emptying decreased and intestinal transit increased after administration of ME in normal mice. However, administration of ME accelerated the intestinal transit ranging from 0.01 to 0.8 mg/mL and reduced it at the concentration of 1.6 and 3.2 mg/mL, while the gastric emptying was inhibited throughout the concentrations in neostigmine-induced mice. in vitro, ME caused inhibitory effect on the spontaneous contraction of rat-isolated jejunum in dose-dependent manner ranging from 0.01 to 6 mg/mL and also relaxed the acetylcholine chloride (Ach, 10(-6) M)-induced and K+ (60 mM)-induced contractions. ME shifted the Ca2+ concentration-response curves to right, similar to that caused by verapamil (0.025 mM).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicated that ME might play a bidirectional role in gastrointestinal transit modulation and the effects on isolated tissue are probably mediated through calcium influx and muscarinic receptors, which provides pharmacological basis for the clinical use of WCA pill in gastrointestinal tract disorders.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Logistics College of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Remodeling and Target Organ Injury, Tianjin 300162, China.
authors.forename: Jingze
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. Electronic address: biochemgao@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Wenyuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratories of Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Changxiao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000187:drug effects; D005772:Gastrointestinal Transit / Q000187:drug effects*; D007583:Jejunum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D009388:Neostigmine / Q000494:pharmacology; D010276:Parasympatholytics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D014700:Verapamil / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D010276:Parasympatholytics; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic; C545640:Wei-Chang-An-Wan; D009388:Neostigmine; D014700:Verapamil; D000109:Acetylcholine; D002118:Calcium; D000432:Methanol
keywords: Ca(2+) channel; Gastrointestinal transit; Isolated rat jejunum; Methanol extract of Wei-Chang-An pill