Objective: To study the effect of the extract of Bu Shen Huo Xue Recipe on blood vessel and the content of NO, NOS, cNOS and iNOS in plasma and aortic tissue.
Methods: The effect of blood vessels was studied by guinea pig mesentery blood capillary, rat aortic ring and celiac vein ring. The content of NO, NOS, cNOS and iNOS were determined by method of nitroreductase chromatometry in plasma and aortic tissue.
Results: The extract of Bu Shen Huo Xue Recipe could significantly increase the sum of crisscross blood capillary, improve bloodstream state and speed. The significantly vasodilating effect induced by the extract of Bu Shen Huo Xue Recipe was seen in rat aortic ring and celiac vein (based on 10 micromol/L phenylephrine-induced concentration). But there was contracting effect in denuded endothelium. The relaxations induced by the extract on blood vessels mentioned above were markedly attenuated by preincubation in organ chambers with glibenclamide (1 micromol/L), the same effect in lower dose with propranolol (3 micromol/L), the contractional effect in high dose with propranolol (3 micromol/L). The extract in high dose could significantly affect the content of NO in plasma, increase the content of NO, NOS and cNOS in aortic tissue.
Conclusion: The mechanism of vasodilation effect of blood vessel of the extract may be related to releasing NO from endothelium of blood vessels and increasing the content of synthetic NOS and cNOS in aortic tissue.