OBJECTIVE To observe the efficiency of the method of soothing liver,calming nerves,descending adverse qi and protecting membrane in treating patients with non-erosive reflux gastroesophageal disease(NERD) and its role in reducing the expression of CGRP and SP.METHODS 37 patients were randomly divided into treatment group(20 cases) and control group (1 7 cases).Patients in the control group were treated with omeprazole and domperidone,whereas those in the treatment group were further added with Chinese formula.Questionnaire concerning reflux diseases was used to evaluate the symptoms before and after treatment.Two biopsy samples were taken from the lower esophageal for immunohistochemistry to evaluate the expression of CGRP and SP.RESULTS ①No evident differences were detected in the two groups when it came to the total scores of questionnaire concerning reflux diseases(P >0.05) before treatment.Both the total symptom scores and the symp-tom scores of burning,chest pain and reflux of gastric contents in the treatment group were lower than those in the control group(P <0.05),with no evident differences being detected in sour taste/bitter taste in the mouth(P >0.05)after treatment. The total curative rate of the treatment group was 75%,which was higher than 47% of the control group(P <0.05).②Im-munohistochemical test showed that the expression of CGRP and substance P in the treatment group after treatment was lower than that before treatment(P <0.05),while no significant changes were noticed in the control group(P >0.05).CONCLU-SION The method of soothing liver,calming nerves,descending adverse qi and protecting membrane combined with western medicine therapy can efficiently relieve the symptoms and enhance curative efficiency in patients with NERD,whose action mechanism might be related to the inhibition of CGRP and substance P expression,so as to decrease esophageal hypersensitivi-ty,protect the esophageal mucosa and increase its barrier function.