Objective: To observe the effects of Huzhang Gout Granule (HZGG), a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, on cyclooxygenase (COX) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) activities, the two important oxidases in the course of inflammation, so as to investigate the possible anti-inflammatory mechanism of HZGG.
Methods: After stimulating the blood sample of healthy volunteer with calcium ionophore A23187, concentration of thromboxane B(2) (TXB(2)) in the healthy volunteer's blood was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to observe the effects of HZGG at low- and high-dose on the activity of COX-1, with aspirin as control drug. The concentration of prostaglandin I(2) (PGI(2)) in the healthy volunteer's blood sample, in which aspirin was added to destroy activity of COX-1 beforehand and which was stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, was detected by ELISA method to observe the effects of HZGG on the activity of COX-2, with celecoxib as control drug. In the animal experiment, 40 rats were implanted with sponges soaking in 0.5% arachidonic acid solution in the back to induce inflammatory effusion. Content of leukotriene B4 (LTB4) in the polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) from the inflammatory effusions was detected with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) to observe the impacts of different doses of HZGG on the activity of 5-LOX, with dexamethasone as control drug.
Results: The concentration of TXB(2) in the low-dose HZGG group was higher than those in the high-dose HZGG group and the aspirin group (P<0.05). The concentrations of PGI2 in the low- and high-dose HZGG groups were higher than that in the celecoxib group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the low-dose HZGG group and the high-dose HZGG group (P>0.05). The content of LTB4 in the blank control group was higher than those in the low-dose HZGG group, the high-dose HZGG group or the dexamethasone group (P<0.05)
Conclusion: HZGG can reduce the releasing of inflammatory mediators, such as TXB2, PGI2 and LTB4, by inhibiting the activities of COX and 5-LOX.