Yan Hu Suo Becomes a Pain Medicine

Study Finds a Potent Painkiller in Traditional Chinese Medicine

When it comes to treating pain, a new study suggests traditional Chinese medicine has been getting it right for thousands of years.

A chemical compound found in the underground tubers of the Corydalis plant can effectively alleviate three different types of pain in mice, according to a paper published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

The study also shows that mice do not build up a resistance to the naturally occurring compound, which means it could one day be used for managing chronic pain in humans.

The pain-relieving compound is known as dehydrocorybulbine (DHCB). It was isolated by Chinese researchers as part of the herbalome project -- an ambitious endeavor launched in 2008 to catalog all the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicines.

The Corydalis plant is a member of the poppy family. It grows mainly in central eastern China, and has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. Its tubers are dug up, ground, and then boiled in hot vinegar. The resulting medicine is often prescribed to treat headaches and back pain.

"This medicine goes back thousands of years, and it is still around because it works," said Olivier Civelli, a pharmacologist at UC Irvine and one of the authors of the study. "The question is, what makes it work. There are many compounds inside this plant."

For this study, Civelli collaborated with the lead researcher on the herbalome project--Xinmiao Liang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian in northeast China. Liang's group extracted chemicals from the plant and then sent more than 80 of them to Civelli's lab in Irvine to see which ones had pain relieving properties.

Civelli and his team determined that at least one of those chemicals -- DHCB -- was an effective pain reliever in mice, but they were surprised to find that it used D2 dopamine receptors, rather than morphine receptors.

To read more, click here.

Tai Chi and Parkinson’s Disease

Tai Chi and Parkinson’s Disease

A clinical trial on Tai Chi for Parkinson’s diseases was published on New England Journal of Medicine (February 9, 2012). The following is the abstract of the research:

Patients with Parkinson's disease have substantially impaired balance, leading to diminished functional ability and an increased risk of falling. Although exercise is routinely encouraged by health care providers, few programs have been proven effective.

We conducted a randomized, controlled trial to determine whether a tailored tai chi program could improve postural control in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. We randomly assigned 195 patients with stage 1 to 4 disease on the Hoehn and Yahr staging scale (which ranges from 1 to 5, with higher stages indicating more severe disease) to one of three groups: tai chi, resistance training, or stretching. The patients participated in 60-minute exercise sessions twice weekly for 24 weeks. The primary outcomes were changes from baseline in the limits-of-stability test (maximum excursion and directional control; range, 0 to 100%). Secondary outcomes included measures of gait and strength, scores on functional-reach and timed up-and-go tests, motor scores on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, and number of falls.

The tai chi group performed consistently better than the resistance-training and stretching groups in maximum excursion (between-group difference in the change from baseline, 5.55 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 9.97; and 11.98 percentage points; 95% CI, 7.21 to 16.74, respectively) and in directional control (10.45 percentage points; 95% CI, 3.89 to 17.00; and 11.38 percentage points; 95% CI, 5.50 to 17.27, respectively). The tai chi group also performed better than the stretching group in all secondary outcomes and outperformed the resistance-training group in stride length and functional reach. Tai chi lowered the incidence of falls as compared with stretching but not as compared with resistance training. The effects of tai chi training were maintained at 3 months after the intervention. No serious adverse events were observed.

Tai chi training appears to reduce balance impairments in patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease, with additional benefits of improved functional capacity and reduced falls

The full text is linked at here

Assorted Links

Assorted Links

1.   The Pulses: Strategy for Reducing Stress's Effect on the Kidneys, By Martha Lucas, PhD, Lac

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32830

2.   How To Increase Your Referrals, By John Amaro, LAc, DC, Dipl. Ac.

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32832

3.   Acupuncture for Kids is Not Scary, By Kimberly Thompson, Lac

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32833

4.   The Battle For Licensure Acts & Regulation By Brenda Duran

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32835

5.   Important Combination Tonic Formulas By Jake Paul Fratkin, OMD, LAc

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32838

Acupuncture in Popular Culture: 99 Needles

She. Herself. Naked.’: The Art of He Chengyao

From The China Blog of New York Times
By Didi Kirsten Tatlow

 

Wearing only underpants, He Chengyao faces the camera, the long acupuncture needles sticking out of her body making her look somewhat like a human porcupine. The performance art piece, now a video and a photograph, is titled “99 Needles.”

For the full story, click here.
For He Chengyao’s artwork, 99 Needles, displayed in Brooklyn Museum, click here.

Acupuncture in Psychiatry

Acupuncture in Psychiatry

By Changzhen Gong and Matthew Schoenecker

Abstract: This paper collects and reviews the most recent clinical findings in acupuncture research for ten common psychiatric conditions: depression; anxiety; insomnia; bipolar disorder; obsessive-compulsive disorder; attention-deficit- hyperactivity disorder; post-traumatic disorder; schizophrenia; autism; and substance abuse. While it demonstrates that rigorous clinical trials and systematic reviews have been conducted on most of these conditions, it also reveals the need for even more well-designed research studies. The studies detailed in this paper justify a wider application of acupuncture for psychiatric conditions, and corroborate the long tradition of such applications in China. 

The use of acupuncture to treat psychiatric disorders is on the rise. Psychiatric disorders are conditions that disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. These disorders result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life. Serious psychiatric disorders include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic-stress disorder, and borderline personality disorder.  These disorders can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or income, and are commonly found in every population. Experts estimate that almost a third of people in most countries report sufficient criteria at some point in their lives to be diagnosed with some type of psychiatric disorder.

Acupuncture is considered a safe and effective treatment modality, and traditional Chinese medicine teaches that acupuncture harmonizes the body's energies. Scientific research has found that acupuncture regulates the levels of a number of hormones and central nervous system neuropeptides such as ACTH, beta-endorphins, serotonin, and noradrenaline, as well as urinary levels of MHPG-sulfate, an adrenergic metabolite inversely related to the severity of illness in schizophrenics [1]. Since the early 1970s, studies around the globe have suggested that acupuncture has a positive and holistic effect on depressed patients, particularly when used in combination with psychotherapy and herbal treatments. Acupuncture has also been shown to have increasingly positive clinical effects on insomnia, depression, and anxiety. Clinical observational studies and clinical trials on other psychiatric conditions show increasing amounts of evidence for the positive efficacy of acupuncture. This paper collects and compiles recent clinical studies on acupuncture for psychiatric conditions such as depression; anxiety; insomnia; bipolar disorder; obsessive-compulsive disorder; attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder; post-traumatic disorder; schizophrenia; autism; and substance abuse. These clinical studies were conducted around the world and published in leading peer-reviewed medical journals. While this paper demonstrates that rigorous clinical trials and systematic reviews have been conducted on most of these conditions, it also reveals the need for even more well-designed research studies.

 

This 35-page review paper appears in the International Journal of Clinic Acupuncture, No. 4, 2013.

Acupuncture for Macular Degeneration

Acupuncture for Macular Degeneration

Dr. Alston C. Lundgren, MD. developed the experimental Santa Fe Eye Protocol to Reverse the Vision Loss of Macular Degeneration with acupuncture, abbreviated The Santa Fe Eye Protocol.

Dr. Lundgren presented his Santa Fe Eye Protocol to the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine students and faculty in July 2012. The Santa Fe Eye Protocol is a three-part treatment that achieves measurable results through minimally invasive techniques:

1. Small steel studs are inserted in regions of the ear whose nerve endings have been shown to correspond with specific areas of the brain. By stimulating these nerves, cortisone and oxygen-rich blood are induced in the region of the retina.
2. Needle electrodes are inserted in the fat around the eyeball and are stimulated with a mild electrical current. These electrodes stimulate the retina and surrounding tissues and probably increase blood flow to the retina.
3. In Spring 2007, a 3rd component was added – electrically stimulating the scalp over the visual cortex which occupies a considerable portion of the brain.

Dr. Lundgren’s presentation was available on his website, click here.

Washington DC Building Looking for Help from Chinese Medicine Doctor

Logan Circle Condos to Use Feng Shui

By Jill Chodorov

Washington Post

The construction site at 1435 11th St. NW may seem like the many other luxury condo buildings currently or soon-to-be dotting the landscape in the District’s Logan Circle neighborhood.

But developers of the four-unit building are hoping to differentiate the project in what is becoming a cluttered market in a high-demand area by incorporating feng shui principles.

On a national scale, concepts in the ancient Chinese philosophy are becoming more mainstream, with retailers, office buildings and even Whole Foods, McDonald’s and Disneyland using them to help identify the optimal building location and design in an attempt to maximize health, wealth, harmony and happiness.

Feng shui, obviously, is an unusual philosophy that is not for everyone. Still, it is spreading into the residential market, becoming more popular with buyers and builders.

Nine Feng Shu principles from the  Washington Post article:

• Avoid a direct alignment of the front door with the back door. It is believed that your money will come in the house and easily escape through the back door.

• A house located at a T-junction is considered bad feng shui because the automobile energy “hits” the house in a sharp, aggressive way. The energy from cars is considered to be negative with pollutants.

• A master bedroom should not be situated above a garage, as cars let off pollutants and jeopardize good health. It also should not be located above a fireplace or stove.

• You should not see the toilet when opening the bathroom door, as your luck will be flushed. If you can see the toilet, keep the lid closed.

• A house sitting at a dead end has all the energy from the street pooling in front of it, which is believed to create more drama or hardship.

• The stairs should not be located directly inside the front door ascending straight upward.

• The home should not be located on a former battlefield, cemetery or chemical waste dump.

• Avoid an irregular shaped house.

• Avoid living near large power stations.

Click here for the full story.

 

A Legal Battle to Protect Acupuncture Profession

Dry Needling: Averting a Crisis for the Profession
By John Amaro

Acupuncture Today

To date, there have been a multitude of articles published nationally in opposition to what may very well be perceived as the number-one threat to the existence of the acupuncture profession – what is known as "dry needling." Dry needling is being practiced by hundreds of physical therapists across the nation and in every state.

It has achieved a great deal of notoriety and popularity within the PT community, and in particular the general public, who have embraced it and are actively seeking the services of those who utilize this procedure.

When practiced by a physical therapist, the procedure is more often than not covered through medical insurance plans and may command as much or more than $200 per treatment. Unfortunately, the practice of acupuncture by licensed and state board-regulated LAc's does not fall within the same financial parameters the PT is receiving by billing for trigger-point therapy or other similar codes.

The entire acupuncture profession, from the individual practitioner to the national organizations, have launched direct and impassioned protests against this practice. Acupuncture organizations have stated emphatically that the PT who is inserting acupuncture needles into the skin to deactivate trigger points is infringing upon the practice acts of state board-licensed and regulated acupuncturists, as the procedure is clearly acupuncture.

Physical therapists, on the other hand, respond by saying that they are not using any belief system, academia or philosophy of Traditional Chinese Medicine or any particular thought process that deals with what is commonly known as the practice of acupuncture, regardless of what Asian country it may have been developed in. They explain their procedure as simply isolating trigger points, as described by Travell, Simons, and others as far back as 1947 and expounded upon in the mid-1960s. They go on to say that what they are doing is absolutely not acupuncture.

Trigger points are hyperirritable spots in skeletal muscle which are painful on deep palpation and can give rise to referred pain and motor dysfunction. They are found in palpable, taut bands of skeletal muscle and are responsible for a host of maladies affecting especially the musculoskeletal system, from pain in a body area to dysfunction of the area. Acupuncturists counter that this is what we refer to as "Ah Shi," "Ah So" points, which is a classic method of acupuncture known universally.

Palpating the area of pain, which may be known as "Surround the Dragon," will elicit specific tender points that may be needled by the acupuncturist in a classically and globally utilized approach. The physical therapist utilizes the identical approach by palpating and finding the trigger points, which are exquisitely tender; and then inserting an acupuncture needle into the area in what is described by them as "dry needling."

http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32801

Acupuncture and Alligator

Assorted Links

1.      Acupuncture helps ailing alligator in Brazil (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/28/acupuncture-alligator-brazil/2725085/

2.      Joan Rivers' ailing dog gets acupuncture (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2013/08/20/joan-rivers-ailing-dog-gets-acupuncture/2677269/

3.      Virginia dog gets acupuncture for pain (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2013/02/20/1932059/

4.      Study: Placebo or not, acupuncture helps with pain (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2012/09/10/study-acupuncture-pain/1412431/

5.      Acupuncture helping people with concussions (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/2013/05/29/2370949/

Gan Cao and Drug-Herb Interactions

Gan Cao and Drug-Herb Interactions

Liquorice is the root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. or Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Leguminosae. It is a widely used herbal medicine native to southern Europe and parts of Asia and has beneficial applications in both the medicinal and the confectionery sectors. Unlike its usage in Europe, liquorice in traditional Chinese medicine is commonly combined with other herbs in a single prescription, as a unique “guide drug” to enhance the effectiveness of other ingredients, to reduce toxicity, and to improve flavor in almost half of Chinese herbal formulas. A review on phytochemical and pharmacological research to explain this unique “guide” effect is suggested for future investigations.

Can Cao and its related drug-herb interactions are reviewed in here.  

Acupressure, Trigger Point Therapy, and JFK

Acupressure, Trigger Point Therapy, and JFK

New York Times

Trigger point therapy — pressing on knotted muscles to relax them — has been used by physical therapists for decades. (Acupressure, in Chinese medicine, uses similar points.) Dr. Janet Travell, the first woman to serve as White House physician, used trigger point therapy to treat President John F. Kennedy’s back pain; Mr. Sawyer studied under Dr. David G. Simons, a protégé of Dr. Travell.

Full story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/health/a-fix-for-stress-related-pelvic-pain.html?_r=0

Dramatic Relief of Lower Back Pain

Upcoming Event at American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

Thursday, Jan 30, 2014

12:30 – 1:00 PM 

Lunchtime Lecture Series Presents: 

Dramatic Relief of Lower Back Pain:

Innovative Needling Technique Produces Cures in 3 Treatments  

by Dr. Yubin Lu

 Professional acupuncturists recognize that appropriate needling technique is an art form. The ability to apply powerful and innovative techniques comes with experience. In this lunch lecture, Dr. Lu will share with you an extremely successful needling protocol he has developed for treating lower back pain. Acupoints Yaoyan and GB 30 with electrical stimulation are key to this approach. Dr. Lu will describe his method of palpation, diagnosis, and treatment using Yaoyan, GB 30, and related points. Patients often experience 60-80% relief of back pain after only one treatment with this technique.

Acupuncture for Dogs in New West LA Pet Hospital

Acupuncture for Dogs in New West LA Pet Hospital

West L.A. pet hospital caters to high-end clients

By Stuart Pfeifer

Los Angeles Times

All the amenities of modern medicine are available at a new West Los Angeles hospital. There's 24-hour emergency care, a team of surgeons, psychology and physical therapy units, MRI and CT machines, one of the top oncologists in the country.

Medical assistants busily roam the halls, soothing patients' fears with smiles, kind words or gentle touches. But they have to watch out: The patients can bite.

They're dogs, cats and other pets being treated at the VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital, which at 42,000 square feet is the largest pet hospital west of the Mississippi River.

It is one of only a handful of U.S. animal hospitals that offer such sophisticated procedures as bone-marrow transplants for dogs — at a startling $16,000 — as well as radiation therapy, acupuncture treatment and hydrotherapy pools.

Full story:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pet-hospital-20131113,0,2581142.story#axzz2rHx26kRY

Long Dan Xie Gan Tang and Hepatitis B

Long Dan Xie Gan Tang and Hepatitis B

Long-Dan-Xie-Gan-Tang is a famous Chinese herbal formula which also originally came from "Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang". It was recorded to have inhibitive effects on inflammatory diseases of the liver or gall bladder. There are ten medicinal herbs in Long-Dan-Xie-Gan-Tang including Gentiana scabra, Scutellaria baicalensis, Gardenia jasminoides, Alisma plantago, Plantago asiatica, Akebia trifoliate, Rhemannia glutinosa, Angelica sinensis, Bupleurum chinense and Glycyrrhiza uralensis. Recently, much pharmacological research has shown that Long-Dan-Xie-Gan-Tang has potent anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation, immune modulation, anti-herpetic virus, and anti-HBV properties. It is reported that Long-Dan-Xie-Gan-Tang is the most commonly prescribed Chinese herbal formula for subjects with CHB in Taiwan. It has a hepatoprotective effect on CCl4-induced hepatic injury in rats with the level of serum ALT and AST decreased significantly after treatment with Long-Dan-Xie-Gan-Tang. In addition, Long-Dan-Xie-Gan-Tang combined with IFN-α could significantly improve the negative conversion rates of HBeAg in the treatment of CHB.

Excerpt from Qi FH, Wang ZX, Cai PP, Zhao L, Gao JJ, Kokudo N, Li AY, Han JQ, Tang W. Traditional Chinese medicine and related active compounds: A review of their role on hepatitis B virus infection. Drug Discov Ther. 2013 Dec;7(6):212-224.

The full text http://www.ddtjournal.com/action/downloaddoc.php?docid=743

WHO’s Recommendation List for Acupuncture

 WHO’s Recommendation List for Acupuncture

The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below.

1. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved—through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment, such as headache, knee pain, and morning sickness, nausea and vomiting, sciatica;

2. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed such as Bell’s palsy, bronchial asthma, cancer pain, female infertility, insomnia, Ménière diseases;

3. Disease, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because color blindness,  irritable colon syndrome, and neuropathic bladder in spinal cord injury;

 

4. Disease, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture may be tried provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment, such as breathlessness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coma, and convulsions in infants.

 

For the full text of WHO’s Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, click http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/pdf/s4926e/s4926e.pdf

 

Chinese Herbal Formula for Diabetes

Chinese Herbal Formula for Diabetes

The first double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial that shows a Chinese herbal formula can reduce the progression of prediabetes to diabetes was published online January 16, 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The formula, Tianqi, in the trial, includes ten-ingredients:

Huang Qi (Astragali Radix)
Huang Lian (Coptidis Rhizoma)
Mai Men Dong (Trichosanthis Radix)
Nu Zhen Zi (Ligustri Lucidi Fructus)
Shi Hu (Dendrobii Caulis)
Ren Shen (Ginseng Radix)
Gou Qi Zi (Lycii Cortex)
Han Lian Cao (Ecliptae Herba)
Wu Bei Zi (Galla Chinensis)
Shan Zhu Yu (Corni Fructus)

The study found that Tianqi can reduce the risk for diabetes by almost a third (32.1%) compared with placebo. The proportion of participants who had normal glucose tolerance after 12 months of receiving either Tianqi or placebo was 63.1% (n=125) and 46.6% (n=89), respectively (P = .001). A total of 36 participants in the Tianqi group (18.18%) and 56 in the placebo group (29.32%) developed diabetes (P = .01). The results show that the Chinese herbal medicine was comparable to some medications such as acarbose and metformin in reducing progression to type 2 diabetes.

http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/jc.2013-3276

Tai Chi and Fibromyalgia

Tai Chi and Fibromyalgia

A clinical trial on Tai Chi for fibromyalgia was published on New England Journal of Medicine (August 19, 2010). The following is the abstract of the research:

Previous research has suggested that tai chi offers a therapeutic benefit in patients with fibromyalgia.

We conducted a single-blind, randomized trial of classic Yang-style tai chi as compared with a control intervention consisting of wellness education and stretching for the treatment of fibromyalgia (defined by American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria). Sessions lasted 60 minutes each and took place twice a week for 12 weeks for each of the study groups. The primary end point was a change in the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) score (ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms) at the end of 12 weeks. Secondary end points included summary scores on the physical and mental components of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). All assessments were repeated at 24 weeks to test the durability of the response.

Of the 66 randomly assigned patients, the 33 in the tai chi group had clinically important improvements in the FIQ total score and quality of life. Mean (+/-SD) baseline and 12-week FIQ scores for the tai chi group were 62.9+/-15.5 and 35.1+/-18.8, respectively, versus 68.0+/-11 and 58.6+/-17.6, respectively, for the control group (change from baseline in the tai chi group vs. change from baseline in the control group, -18.4 points; P<0.001). The corresponding SF-36 physical-component scores were 28.5+/-8.4 and 37.0+/-10.5 for the tai chi group versus 28.0+/-7.8 and 29.4+/-7.4 for the control group (between-group difference, 7.1 points; P=0.001), and the mental-component scores were 42.6+/-12.2 and 50.3+/-10.2 for the tai chi group versus 37.8+/-10.5 and 39.4+/-11.9 for the control group (between-group difference, 6.1 points; P=0.03). Improvements were maintained at 24 weeks (between-group difference in the FIQ score, -18.3 points; P<0.001). No adverse events were observed.

Tai chi may be a useful treatment for fibromyalgia and merits long-term study in larger study populations.

The full research is linked at http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0912611.

Biomedical Research Moves East

Biomedical Research Moves East

LIKE many other things, biomedical research is moving east. A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine by a team led by Justin Chakma of Thomas, McNerney & Partners, an American venture-capital firm, shows a marked shift in spending from Europe and North America to Asia. In China, where the most recent five-year plan has made such research a priority, the amount disbursed increased, in real terms, by an average of 33% a year between 2007 and 2012. In Japan it was up by an average of 6% each year. In the United States it fell by 2% a year. As a consequence, America’s share of the total shrank from 51% in 2007 to 45% in 2012.

Read more, click http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21593407-if-you-want-go-after-party-its-asia-partys-over

Xiao Chai Hu Tang and Hepatitis B

Xiao Chai Hu Tang and Hepatitis B

Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang, a famous traditional Chinese herbal formula originally recorded in "Shang Han Lun", has been used to treat liver diseases especially chronic hepatitis for thousands of years in China and Japan. It consists of seven medicinal herbs (Bupleurum falcatum, Scutellaria baicalensis, Panax ginseng, Zizyphus jujube, Pinellia ternate, Zingiber officinale, and Glycyrrhiza glabra). Much pharmacological research has shown that Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang has potent anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation, immunomodulation, hepatoprotective, anti-hepatic fibrosis, and antitumor properties. Recently, a lot of basic or clinical studies have been conducted to assess the beneficial effects and safety of Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang for CHB treatment. Chang et al. found that Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang could inhibit the replication of HBV DNA and decrease the expression of HBeAg in HepG2 2.2.15 cells. Tajiri et al. found that Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang could promote the clearance of HBeAg in children with chronic HBV infection. Qin et al. gave a systematic review of randomized trials on treatment of CHB using Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang. Sixteen randomized trials (involving 1,601 CHB patients) were included in this review. The pooled results showed that Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang combined with antiviral drugs (e.g., lamivudine and IFN-α) was more effective in serum loss of hepatitis B viral markers and in improving liver function compared to antiviral drugs alone. Moreover, there were no adverse effects reported in the trials regarding Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang.

Excerpt from Qi FH, Wang ZX, Cai PP, Zhao L, Gao JJ, Kokudo N, Li AY, Han JQ, Tang W. Traditional Chinese medicine and related active compounds: A review of their role on hepatitis B virus infection. Drug Discov Ther. 2013 Dec;7(6):212-224.

The full text http://www.ddtjournal.com/action/downloaddoc.php?docid=743