The Experimental Study Of Sarcandra Glabra (Thunb.) Nakail On Influenza Virus FM1 Strain

Influenza is a kind of infectious disease caused by influenza virus, which is one of orthomyxoviruses. Influenza virus has three kinds of serotype, A, B and C. There are several subtypes in every serotype. The categorization based on the difference of Heamagglutinin(Hi) and Neuraminidase(Ni). The influenza virus A has 13 HA subtypes and 9 NA ones. Among the total, H1～H3 and N1～N2 are correlated human influenza virse. The i virse, which exisets in the nature widely, can affect pourty, pigs, horses or any other animals, besides humanbeing. The B virus is found in human being only, and the C virus is epidemic in human and pigs. Millions of people were killed by influenza during the epidemic in the 20th century. Large manpower and material resources have been thrown into the study in attempt to find out effective ways to cure and prevent the infectious disease in every country.The herb roughhaired holly root has much effectiveness, such as heat-clearing: Promote the production of body fluid, promoting blood flow and detoxication. It is used in Guangdong herbal tea usually. Many Chinese doctors prescribe this herb for influenza and SIRS. While, there are no reports about anti-influenza virus of roughhaired holly root. The study aims to demonstrate the antiviral effect and mechanism of the herb.Literature reviewReview of the ancient literature and up-dated data on the influenza virus were done. It is well recognized that the epidemics of influenza occurred at regular intervals. When the viral H and N were both changed, the major pandemic broke out. Though medicine such as amantadine, rimantadine and ribavirin can inhibit the influenza virus, the side effects of these drugs minimize their clinical uses. Up to date, this infectious disease has not been controlled effectively. It is believed that Traditional Chinese Medicine would play an important role in the treatment and prevention of influenza.Laboratorial studyStudy the antiviral effect and its mechanism of Sarcandra glabra(Thunb.)Nakail in treating influenza pneumonia in vitro and in vivo, through observation of lung index, death rate of infected mice. Results are as follows: Sarcandra glabra(Thunb. )Nakail has anti-virus effect in vivo and in vitro; It can adjust the concentration of TNF—α, INF—γ, IL—10 and subtype of lymophcytes (CD₃⁺,CD₄⁺,CD₈⁺) in blood serum of mice. The result indicates that roughhaired holly root can raise the cell-mediated immunity of mice, and adjust the balance of cytokines. Maybe this is the mechanism that the herb anti-influenza of mice.