Ginsenosides in the decoction of Radix Ginseng, Radix Ginseng with Flos Lonicerae, Radix Polygoni Multiflori or Radix Astragali have been investigated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometric method (ESI-MS). Change of the content of ginsenosides was nonlinear in diverse combinative proportion of Radix Ginseng with Flos Lonicerae, while the stripping of ginsenosides was promoted by a small amount of Radix Polygoni Multiflori. In the combinative decoction of Radix Ginseng with Radix Astragali, ginsenosides contents were increased compared to single decoction of Radix Ginseng. Besides, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) method was developed for determination of the total antioxidative activity of n-butanol and water-soluble extracts from the decoction. The experimental results showed that antioxidative activity was better in the combinative decoction than that in single decoction, and the FRAP values of n-butanol extract were also greater compared with that of water extract.

Objective To explore the relationship between the level of plasma ADAMTS4 and the vulnerability of carotid atherosclerotic plaque in patients with carotid artery stenosis and the clinical value of evaluating the vulnerability of the carotid atherosclerotic plaque.Methods 60 patients with carotid artery stenosis were divided into stable plaque group and vulnerable plaque group according to the histopathological typing after carotid endarterectomy (CEA).30 patients who had atherosclerosis but no carotid plaque formation served as control.Using ELISA to measure the level of plasma ADAMTS4.Results The level of plasma ADAMTS4 was significantly higher in the vulnerable-plaque group (112.74 ± 17.47) ng/ml compared with the stable plaque group (56.67 ± 22.14)ng/ml and the control group (56.67 ± 22.14)ng/ ml,P ＜ 0.001.Logistic analysis showed that high level of plasma ADAMTS4 was risk factor for vulnerability of carotid atherosclerotic plaque (P ＜ 0.05,OR =8.240,95 ％ CI:1.512-22.915).ROC curve showed that ADAMTS4 =100.935 ng/ml could accurately predict significant vulnerability with accuracy of 94.3％.Conclusion ADAMTS4 is an effective,sensitive and non-invasive biomarker to evaluate the vulnerability of carotid atherosclerotic plaque.