AIM:To investigate the pathophysiologic basis of syndrome of Liver-Qi stagnation and parameters for clinical differentiation.METHODS:Plasma L-ENK, AVP, ANP and serum gastrin were determined by RIA in 84 patients with neurasthenia, mastodynia,chronic gastritis, and chronic cholecystitis presenting the same syndrome of Liver-Qi stagnation in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Healthy subjects served as controls in comparison with patients having the same syndrome but with different diseases.RESULTS:Among the patients with Liver-Qi stagnation, the plasma L-ENK, ANP and gastrin levels were 38.83ng/L ± 6.32ng/L, 104.11ng/L ± 29.01ng/L and 32.20ng/L ± 6.68ng/L, being significantly lower than those in the healthy controls (P < 0.01, t = 3.34, 6.17, 4.48). The plasma AVP of the patient group (52.82ng/L ± 19.09ng/L) was significantly higher than that of the healthy controls (P <0.01, t = 5.79 =. The above changes in patients having the same symptom complex but different diseases entities showed no significant differences, P >0.05.CONCLUSION:The syndrome of Liver-Qi stagnation is closely related to the emotional modulatory abnormality of the brain, with decrease of plasma L-ENK, ANP and gastrin, and increase of plasma AVP as the important pathophysiologic basis.