AIM: To observe the effect of a Chinese herb wumei wan (WMW) on proinflammtory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (FNF-α),
interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, and immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 of rats with ulcerative colitis (UC), and compare the therapeutic effect of WMW with solfasalazine (SASP). METHODS: The experiment was completed in the Central Laboratory of Hubei College of Traditional Chinese Medicine from October 2002 to March 2003. ① Totally 56 healthy SD rats of half in each gender were randomly divided into 4 groups: normal group, WMW group, SASP group and model group with 14 in each group. Except rats in normal group, rats in other three groups were established UC models with local enema of 2,4-chlorodinitrobenzene immune and acetic acid. ② WMW group: Rats in WMW group were perfused with 3 mL WMW fluid, once a day (Herbs quantity in WMW were as follows: 16 g dark plum, 6 g asarum herb, 10 g dried ginger, 16 g Chinese goldthread, 4 g Chinese angelica root, 6 g aconite root, 4 g pricklyash peel, 6 g cassia twig, 6 g sun-dried ginseng, 6 g bark of cork tree. Decoction in which raw drug contents were 515 g/L, were prepared based on WMW with the traditional method). SASP group: Rats in SASP group were perfused with 3 mL SASP once a day after modeling. Model group and normal group: Rats were perfused with 3 mL distilled water once a day for 15 days. ③ On the 16th day, contents of cytokines IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and TNF-α in colon tissue were measured with enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay. ④ All data were analyzed with t test and variance analysis (q-test).RESULTS: Because 2 rats in every group were killed for pathologic testing before lavage and collection of the part specimenswas not right. Totally 2, 4, 5 and 3 rats were missed respectively in normal group, model group, SASP group and WMW group. Finally, 12, 10, 9 and 11 rats were involved in the analysis of results. ① Contents of IL-6, IL-8 and FNF-α in colon tissue: Contents in model group were higher than those in normal group (P < 0.01), those in SASP group and WMW group were lower than those in model group (P < 0.01), and those in WMW group were lower than those in SASP group (P < 0.01). ②Content of IL-10 in colon tissue: Content in model group was lower than that in normal group (P < 0.01), that in SASP group and WMW group was higher than that in model group (P < 0.01), and that in WMW group was higher than that in SASP group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: WMW can up-regulate anti-inflammation cytokine IL-10 and down-regulate proinflammtory cytokines FNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 so as to recovery immunological function of UC rats. Effect of WMW on UC is superior to that of SASP.