Objective: To study the differences between the effects of five Chinese patent medicines on focal cerebral ischemia. Tongsaimai Tablet (TSM), Tongxinluo Capsule (TXL), Buchangnaoxintong (BCNXT), Fufangxueshuantong Capsule (FFXST) and Xuesaitong Capsule.
Methods: The focal cerebral ischemia rats were modeled by electric coagulation. The water content of brain, cerebral index, cerebral infarction rate, superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), testosterone (T), estradiol (E2) in serum and expression of estrogen receptor (ER) in brain were detected after adminstration.
Results: Compared with the sham group, the water content of brain, cerebral index, cerebral infarction rate the content of MDA and E2 in serum and the ER expression of focal cerebral ischemia rats increased, the activity of SOD and the content of T were decreased. All these five Chinese patent medicines could reduce encephaledema (except TXL) and the infarct range, decrease the content of MDA and the expression of ER. BCNXT and TSM could increase the activify of SOD; FFXST, XST and TSM could increase the content of T; BCNXT, FFXST and XST could decrease the content of E2.
Conclusion: The five Chinese patent medicines have the protection effect on cerebral ischemia, but their mechanisms are not exactly the same.