OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds and water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds on tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and nuclear factor kappaB (NF-κ B) expressions in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) at the acute stage, and to monitor their therapeutic effect and mechanism of action on inflammation and cerebral edema.

METHODSA rat model of cerebral hemorrhage was achieved by injecting autologous arterial blood into the caudate nucleus. A total of 168 rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: blood-activating medicine group (n=42), water-draining medicine group (n=42), sham operated group (n=42), and the model group (n=42). A series of brain samples were obtained at days 1, 3 and 5 after ICH from rats in all groups. Protein expression levels of TNF-α and NF-κ B were measured by immunohistochemical staining and gene expression levels of TNF-α and NF-κ B were measured by real-time fluorescent PCR.

RESULTSCompared to the sham operated group, protein expression levels of TNF-α and NF-κ B in the model group significantly increased (P<0.01). Protein and gene expressions of TNF-α from the blood-activating medicine group and water-draining medicine group significantly decreased when compared to those in the model group P<0.05). Meanwhile, compared to the model group, the expression of NF-κ B in the blood-activating medicine group significantly decreased (P<0.05), while expression of NF-κ B in the water-draining medicine group did not differ (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSBlood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds and water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds can alleviate inflammation of peripheral tissue and cerebral edema. However, the blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds were more effective than the water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds. The possible effective mechanism may be by means of inhibiting the activation of NF-κ B so as to suppress the transcription of target genes including gene expression of TNF-α.