Studies On Therapeutic Substances Of Semen Crotonis Pulveratum On Bowel Movement And Anti-endotoxin Activities Of Wei-Chang-An-Wan

Wei-Chang-An-Wan (WCAW) is an effective Chinese patent prescription and has long been used for the treatment of diarrhea. Semen Crotonis Pulveratum (SC) plays an impotant role in WCAW and it is both active and toxic. In order to explain the rational use of WCAW, this study was to evaluate the therapeutic substances of SC on bowel movement. In addition, WCAW possesses the properties of purging away poisons, strengthening body resistance, and eliminating pathogens. Hence, we also investigated the anti-endotoxin activities of WCAW.The effects of SC on intestinal motility were investigated using both pharmacological and chemical analysis. The mechanisms and components of the active fraction were also studied. The effects of SC extract on contractile intensity, tension, frequency, vitality and intestinal propulsion were evaluated. It was found that SC could increase intestinal motility and the ethyl acetate fraction was the most active. We also found that the effects of the ethyl acetate fraction were mediated by muscarinic receptors, possibly M3 receptors and enhanced extracellular Ca2+ influx. Furthermore, the ethyl acetate fractionâ… andâ…¡promoted intestinal motility and fractionâ…¢andâ…£had no effect, which indicating that fractionâ…¢andâ…£could increase the efficiency of fractionâ… andâ…¡.GC-MS analysis of the fatty oil of Fructus Crotonis (FC) and SC was also examined. Fourteen components were identified and their relative contents in FC and SC extracts were 98.17% and 99.03%, respectively. The two extracts contained ten same and four different constituents. Moreover, SC has a more beneficial effect on health.RP-HPLC was used to investigate the components of SC and its extracts. The principle fragmentations of the main components of the ethyl acetate fraction and the main component of the active fraction were analyzed by HPLC-MS. Furthermore, the fragmentations of tigliane diesters were identified.The effects of WCAW and SC on lipopolysaccharides (LPS) were determined using both in vitro and in vivo tests. We found that both WCAW and SC could neutralize LPS by using Limulus amebocyte lysate assay. Pretreatment with WCAW 4g/kg could improve the survival rate in mice (P<0.05). Moreover, SC could not prevent the lethality induced by LPS in mice (P>0.05).