Objective:To investigate the curative effect of auricular-plaster therapy on heroin addiction. Methods: Sixty cases of heroin addiction were treated by auricular-plaster therapy in cooperation with methadone and another 60 cases with methadone as a control. The treatment lasted 10 days. Results and conclusion: The results showed that the curative effect of auricular-plaster therapy plus methadone on heroin addiction was significantly better than that of methadone in the control group(P<0.01). The rate of drug relapse was also significantly lower in the former(P<0.01). It is considered that auricular-plaster therapy in cooperation with methadone is now an ideal therapeutic method for drug withdrawal.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Xiehuo Bushen Decoction (XHBSD), a compound Chinese herbal medicine, on the survival and differentiation of transplanted neural stem cells (NSCs) in brains of rats with intracerebral hemorrhage, and to explore the mechanism of Xiehuo Bushen formula in promoting the survival of transplanted NSCs. METHODS: NSCs separated from hippocampuses of neonatal SD rats were cultured. Sixty-five panel reactive antibody (PRA) positive SD rats were selected by lymphocytotoxicity methods. The PRA positive rats were made into intracerebral hemorrhagic model and divided into three groups: cerebral hemorrhage group (n=15), NSCs transplanted group (n=25) and XHBSD group (n=25). XHBSD was orally administered after 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-marked NSCs were transplanted in brains of rats with intracerebral hemorrhage in the XHBSD group. Rats in the other two groups were administered distilled water. The expressions of interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) mRNAs were measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); the numbers of BrdU and 200 kD neurofilament (NF200) positive cells were detected by double-labeling immunofluorescence method. RESULTS: The expression of IFN-gamma mRNA was down-regulated significantly in the XHBSD group, but the expression of IL-4 mRNA was up-regulated significantly (P<0.05). The numbers of BrdU and NF200 positive cells were also increased remarkably in the XHBSD group. CONCLUSION: XHBSD can promote the survival and differentiation of transplanted NSCs, which may be related to inducing the expression of IL-4 mRNA and inhibiting the expression of IFN-gamma mRNA.