Shenqi Fuzheng injection (SFI) has been confirmed to be able to alleviate brain injury in mice. This study examined the brain-protective effect of SFI on patients after cranial radiation. Lung cancer patients with brain metastasis were randomly assigned to two groups. The SFI group received cranial radiation in combination with SFI. The control group received cranial radiation alone. The changes in cognitive function were evaluated pre- and post-radiation against the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessement (MoCA), Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). The changes in inflammatory factors, such as TGF-β1, TNF-α and IL-10, were also detected before, during and after radiation (15Gy/5F). The results showed that 6 months after cranial radiation, the total scores on the MMSE and MoCA scales of the patients decreased, especially memory ability. The control group experienced a more evident decline, the memory ability being the greatest. TGF-β1 and TNF-a increased shortly after radiation and decreased one month later, and the change was more conspicuous in SFI group than in control group. IL-10 increased after radiation and stayed at a high level one month later in both groups, the level being higher in the SFI group than in the control group. Our study indicated that cognitive functions, especially memory ability, were impaired after cranial radiation. SFI could alleviate radiation-induced brain injury by regulating inflammatory factors.
Keywords: Shenqi Fuzheng injection; cognitive disorders; inflammation; irradiation-induced brain injury.