OBJECTIVETo investigate the status of the micro-inflammation in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis and the effect of combined therapy with hypha cordyceps and ginkgo leaf tablet for its prevention and treatment.

METHODSSixty-five patients undergoing long-term maintenance hemodialysis were randomly assigned to the treated group (33 patients) and the control group (32 patients). Patients in both groups underwent hemodialysis regularly, meanwhile, 3 capsules of Jinshuibao (each capsule containing hypha cordyceps 0.33 g) and 1 tablet of ginkgo leaf tablet (0.23 g/tablet) were additiolally given to the patients in the treated group orally, 3 times per day, and 3 months as 1 treatment course. Their serum inflammatory factors, such as high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), which could reveal the state of microinflammation, were determined before and after treatment. And the same index was also determined in 30 healthy persons allocated in a normal control group.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, the serum levels of hs-CRP (4.94 +/- 2.21 mg/L), IL-6 (0.472 +/- 0.220 microg/L) and TNF-alpha (1.748 +/- 0.724 microg/L) in the treated group were higher before treatment, these indexes decreased markedly after treatment (3.28 +/- 1.28 mg/L, 0.379 +/- 0.163 microg/L, and 1.330 +/- 0.458 microg/L, respectively, all P < 0.01), but without significant change in the control group.

CONCLUSIONMicro-inflammation reaction exists popularly in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis, and the combined therapy with hypha cordyceps and ginkgo leaf tablet could effectively improve this kind of micro-inflammation reaction.

Adult ; Aged ; Cordyceps ; chemistry ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Female ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Humans ; Hyphae ; chemistry ; Inflammation ; blood ; drug therapy ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Inflammation Mediators ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Renal Dialysis ; adverse effects ; Tablets

One undescribed and two known furocoumarins were isolated from the stems of the Clausenalansium through a series of isolation and purification approaches including HPD-100 macroporous resin column, silica gel, reverse phase C₁₈ and so on. Their structures were determined to be 8-[(2S,3S,6E)-2,3-epoxy-3,7-dimethyl-oct-6-enyloxy] psoralen (1), 8-(7',8'-epoxygeranyloxy) psoralen (2) and 8-[(2E)-6-oxo-3,7-dimethyloct-2-enyloxy] psoralen (3) by spectroscopic methods. Compound 1 is a new furocoumarin. Compound 2 showed cytotoxicity to H460 (IC₅₀ = 43.94 μmol·L^-1) and compound 3 showed cytotoxicity to HeLa (33.76 μmol·L^-1) through the cytotoxic tests against five human cancer cell lines (H460, H7402, HCT-8, HeLa and MCF-7) for all compounds.