OBJECTIVETo analyze the major herbs in Qushi Huayu Compound (QHC) or its various assembles on the fatty deposition and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) secretion induced by free fatty acid (FFA) of human hepatic cancer cell line (HepG2) in vitro, for investigating the analytic methods in seeking the basic material in Chinese compound relevant to the pharmacological effect.

METHODSThe HepG2 cellular model of fatty deposition and TNF-alpha secretion induced by FFA and seropharmacological technique were adopted. Taking triglyceride (TG) and TNF-alpha inhibitory effect as the indexes of investigation, the effects of 10 combinations assembled by uniform design U1(11) (11(10)) form with drugs chosen from the five herbs in the QHC (oriental wormwood, cape-jasmine fruit, giant knotweed rhizome, Japanese St. John's wort herb and curcuma) were screened to seek the major herbs or optimal combination, which were then validated by grouping in interval.

RESULTSHigh dosage combination of oriental wormwood and Japanese St. John's wort herb remarkably reduced the TG and TNF-alpha content in the model cells, with the effect insignificantly different from the whole compound. Moreover, single use of oriental wormwood showed a similar effect.

CONCLUSIONOriental wormwood and its combination with Japanese St. John's wort herb are the major herb/optimum combination in QHC for inhibiting fatty deposition and TNF-alpha secretion in hepatic lipo-toxicity model. The major herb or optimal combination in a certain Chinese compound acted on some sticking point could be discovered by adopting uniform design and pharmacodynamics analytic technique.