Early intervention with Kan Jang® to treat upper-respiratory tract infections: A randomized, quadruple-blind study.

Background And Aim: and preparations and their fixed combination, called Kan Jang®, are traditionally used for relieving symptoms of upper-respiratory tract infections (URTIs). This study aimed to assess the efficacy of early intervention with Kan Jang® on the relief and duration of inflammatory symptoms during the acute phase of the disease.

Experimental Procedure: A total of 179 patients with URTI symptoms received six Kan Jang® (daily dose of andrographolides: 60 mg) or placebo capsules a day for five consecutive days in this randomized, quadruple-blinded, placebo-controlled, two-parallel-group phase II study.

Synergy assessment of fixed combinations of Herba Andrographidis and Radix Eleutherococci extracts by transcriptome-wide microarray profiling.

Background: Generally accepted, but insufficiently proved, the concept of synergy is based on an assumption that combining of two biologically active substances is justified because the combination is more active and less harmful than the ingredients.

Hypothesis: Analysis of RNA microarray of isolated neuroglia cells and the comparison the number of genes deregulated by plant extracts and their fixed herbal formulation might be a useful tool/method for assessment of synergistic and antagonistic interactions of herbal extracts in human organism.

Aim: The primary aim of this study was to extend a new method of assessment of synergistic and antagonistic interactions of herbal extracts in isolated human neuroglia cells when they applied in the form of fixed combinations.

Mechanism of action of Rhodiola, salidroside, tyrosol and triandrin in isolated neuroglial cells: an interactive pathway analysis of the downstream effects using RNA microarray data.

Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the targets (genes, interactive signaling pathways, and molecular networks) of Rhodiola rosea extract in isolated neuroglia cells and to predict the effects of Rhodiola extract on cellular functions and diseases. In addition, the potential mechanism of action of Rhodiola rosea extract was elucidated, and the "active principle" among the three isolated constituents (salidroside, triandrin, and tyrosol) was identified.

Methods: Gene expression profiling was performed using the T98G human neuroglia cell line after treatment with the Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract and several of its individual constituents (salidroside, triandrin and tyrosol).

Synergy and Antagonism of Active Constituents of ADAPT-232 on Transcriptional Level of Metabolic Regulation of Isolated Neuroglial Cells.

Gene expression profiling was performed on the human neuroglial cell line T98G after treatment with adaptogen ADAPT-232 and its constituents - extracts of Eleutherococcus senticosus root, Schisandra chinensis berry, and Rhodiola rosea root as well as several constituents individually, namely, eleutheroside E, schizandrin B, salidroside, triandrin, and tyrosol. A common feature for all tested adaptogens was their effect on G-protein-coupled receptor signaling pathways, i.e.

Adaptogens stimulate neuropeptide y and hsp72 expression and release in neuroglia cells.

The beneficial stress-protective effect of adaptogens is related to the regulation of homeostasis via mechanisms of action associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the regulation of key mediators of the stress response, such as molecular chaperones, stress-activated c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase, forkhead box O transcription factor, cortisol, and nitric oxide (NO). However, it still remains unclear what the primary upstream targets are in response to stimulation by adaptogens. The present study addresses this gap in our knowledge and suggests that an important target for adaptogen mediated stress-protective effector functions is the stress hormone neuropeptide Y (NPY).