BACKGROUND: On the basis of traditional herb wuling san, tianqi and danshen are added to make a preparation, jianshen lishui Ⅰ, for treating blood stasis and edema; shichangpu and xiakucao are added to make a preparation, xingnao xiaozhong capsule, for treating fire, sputum and qiaobi in cerebral edema. OBJECTIVE: To observe the differences between jianshen lishui Ⅰ and xingnao xiaozhong capsule on treating vascular-derived cerebral edema. DESIGN: Randomized grouping design and blank controlled study. SETTING: Laboratory of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. MATERIALS: The experiment was completed in the Laboratory of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine from March to April 2001. Totally 32 male rabbits with 7 months old were selected in the study. METHODS: ① Animal models with cerebral edema were established with self-fresh blood injection method. According to grouping method, animals were divided randomly into 4 groups: blank control group (without intervention); model group (without intervention after modeling); jianshen lishui Ⅰgroup (11.5 mL/kg jianshen lishui Ⅰ was perfused after modeling; jianshen lishui Ⅰ consisted of 15 g sanqi, 15 g danshen, 10 g fuling, 10 g zhuling, 10 g zexie, 10 g baizhu and 10 g guizhi, and provided by Dispensary of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 200 mL/bag) and xingnao xiaozhong capsule group
with 8 in each group. Animals in each group were divided into 12 and 24 hours subgroups with 4 in each time points. ② Animals were killed 12 and 24 hours after intervention with air embolism to calculate cerebral coefficient (total brain mass/ body mass × 100%), cerebral water content <(wet weight - dry weight)/ wet weight × 100%>, Evens blue content in brain tissue . ③ Positivity was tested with square method; differences among groups were compared with F test; differences between groups were compared with q test; time points were tested with t test; and irregular variance was checked with rank sum test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Comparisons of cerebral coefficient, water content and content of Evans blue in 12 and 24-hour experiment group. RESULTS: Totally 32 rabbits entered the final analysis. ① 12-hour experiment: Water content and Evans blue content in jianshen lishui Ⅰ group and xingnao xiaozhong capsule group were obviously lower than those in model group (P < 0.01); cerebral coefficient in jianshen lishui Ⅰ group was lower than that in xingnao xiaozhong capsule group, but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05); water content and Evans blue content in jianshen lishui Ⅰ group were lower than those in xingnao xiaozhong capsule group (P < 0.05). ② 24-hour experiment: Water content and Evans blue content in jianshen lishui Ⅰ group and xingnao xiaozhong capsule group were obviously lower than those in model group (P < 0.01); cerebral coefficient in jianshen lishui Ⅰ group was lower than that in model group (P < 0.01); cerebral coefficient, water content and Evans blue content in jianshen lishui Ⅰ group were respectively lower than those in xingnao xiaozhong capsule group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Vascular-derived edema has found 12 hours after modeling and cerebral edema deteriorates with time passing. In addition, effect of jianshen lishui Ⅰ on blood brain barrier is superior to that of xingnao xiaozhong capsule.