Chinese herb recipe is widely applied and plays a key role in traditional Chinese medicine. However, it involves complicated aspects, and the mechanism researches of Chinese herb recipe had few breakthroughs. The author discussed the questions in the scopes as follows: drug mechanism and chemical components, old typical and current experimental recipes, drug action and its pathological mechanisms. The author believed that the recipe with solid clinical effect should be investigated combining the single herb with its chemical components, and combining the pharmacological mechanism of the recipe with the pathological mechanism of the diseases. More attention should be paid to effect of the research on the improvement of the traditional Chinese medical theory, and efforts should be made to investigate the recipe mechanism relating to molecular signal transduction and the key chemical components.

High content screening(HCS) analysis is an advanced technique in the era of systematic biology,which can comprehensively reflect the changes of cell with live,dynamic,and multiparametric characters.It is a good tool to study the complex ingredients and mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).Application of the technique would contribute to the discovery of effective ingredients,elucidation of mechanism,and development of TCM theory.

With the wide application of Chinese herbal medicine around the world and the continuous perfection of adverse drug reaction monitoring system,herb-induced liver injury (HILI) has attracted more and more attention,but its actual incidence remains unknown.As is reported in the literature,its constituent ratio ranged from 20％ to 30％ and there are many clinical types,among which hepatocellular injury is the most common type.There are many causes of HILI,including pharmaceutical factors,factors associated with the human body,lack of preclinical evaluation,and unreasonable clinical application.Currently it is difficult to make a diagnosis of HILI,and tracing the source of Chinese herbal medicine may play an important role in the diagnosis of this disease.Liver injury induced by Chinese herbal medicine should be taken seriously and active diagnosis and effective prevention and treatment should be performed.

Objective: To investigate the effect of Fu Zheng Hua Yu-319 Recipe on hepatic sinusoid capillarization in the rat of hepatic fibrogenesis. Methods: Hepatic fibrosis model rats were induced by intraperitoneal injection of dimethyl nitrosamine (DMN). thrice a week for 4 weeks, and they were divided into the treatment group which were treated with Fu Zheng Hua Yu-319 Recipe for 4 weeks, and the model control group. Serum and hepatic tissue were taken for examination of pathohistology, microstructure by electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and hydroxyproline content in the liver tissue and hepatic function. Results: In the normal group, peripheral cytoplasma of endothelial cells in the hepatic sinusoid is very thin with a lot of small fenestra, and no basement membrane under endothelium was found. In the model group, crookedness and stricture of the hepatic sinusoid were found , and the fenestra in cytoplasma of the endothelial cell reduced or disappeared with obvious basement membrane, and hemorrhage necrosis in the liver tissue could be found, with a great proliferation of connective tissue in the portal area, and fibrous septum extended towards into the lobuli, the content of hydroxyproline (HYP) in the liver tissue increased significantly. The VI factor-related antigen, a-actin of smooth muscle, LM and type IV collagen positive staining on the hepatic sinusoid wall increased significantly with a wider range as compared with the normal rat. In the treatment group, the extents of crookedness and stricture of hepatic sinusoid and reduction and disappearence of endothelial fenestra were lower, with thiner or discontinuous basement membrane, and a part of hepatic sinusoid construction approached to normal, and degeneration and necrosis of hepatic cells were mild and fibrous septum in the liver tissue decreased significantly, and HYP content decreased significantly (P

Transforming growth factor-? (TGF-?) is a multifunctional peptide growth factor with a wide range of effects. TGF-? signals are conveyed through cell-surface serine/threonine kinase receptors to the downstream cytoplasmic mediators, known as Smads proteins. Receptor-regulated Smads become phosphorylated by activated type Ⅰ receptors and form heteromeric complexes with a common Smad-Smad4, which translocates into the nucleus to regulate gene transcription. Inhibitory Smads inhibit the activation of receptor-regulated Smads. There are positive, negative and feedback regulations in the Smads mediated TGF-? signaling pathway.

This article reviews the advances in the transradial cerebral angiography in recent years. Outcoming with the comprehensive informations of this approach possessing characteristics of safety, less invasiveness and fewer complications. Therefore this procedure is welcomed by patients and ought to be used routinely. (J Intervent Radiol, 2006, 15: 315-318)

To explore the effect of Fu Zheng Hua Yu Fang and its ingredient (s ) on collagen production we cultured the astrocytes isolated from the dimethyl nitorsamine -induced rat fibrosis model in serum with the extract of the completeprescription and its ingredient (s) and observed their effect in treating the model rats. The ingredients included those for strengthening the body resistance, those for removing stasis, that of Cordyceps, that of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae and that of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae plus Cordyceps. The results showed that though inhibition of proliferation and activation of the astrocytes was found in all the groups, the effect of the extract of drugs for removing stasis was the strongest. Similarly, inhibition of production of collagen type I and expression of its mRNA was found in all the groups while the effect of drugs for strengthening the body resistance was the strongest. In treating the model rats, the complete prescription was the strongest in reducing the collagen deposition and hyproxyproline content. Combination of drugs for removing stasis with those for strengthening body resistance could further reduce the formation of collagen. The prescription proved to be a comprehensive one in inhibiting collagen production.

OBJECTIVE: To study the therapeutic mechanism of salvianolic acid B (SA-B) in treating hepatic fibrosis. METHODS: Twenty-four Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: normal control group, untreated group and SA-B-treated group. Rats in the untreated and SA-B-treated groups were injected intraperitoneally with 0.5% dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) for 4 weeks, daily for 3 days each week at a dose of 10 microg/kg, to induce hepatic fibrosis. Then, rats in the SA-B-treated group were given SA-B orally for another 4 weeks. Hydroxyproline (Hyp) contents in liver tissue of the rats in 3 groups were determined with HCl hydrolysis, and collagen type I, transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta1), transforming growth factor-beta receptor type I (TbetaRI) and transforming growth factor-beta receptor type II (TbetaRII) were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The Hyp content and the expressions of collagen type I, TGF-beta1, TbetaRI and TbetaRII in the liver tissue of rats in the untreated group increased significantly as compared with those in the normal control group, while those in SA-B-treated group decreased significantly as compared with those in the untreated group. CONCLUSION: The therapeutic mechanism of SA-B in treating hepatic fibrosis may be related to inhibiting the expressions of TGF-beta1 and its receptors.