Polysaccharide of Radix Pseudostellariae Improves Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Induced by Poly I:C in Mice

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Jun 2011

Radix Pseudostellariae is used as a tonic drug in traditional Chinese medicine with immunomodulating and anti-fatigue activities, and the polysaccharide is considered as the main active component. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the polysaccharide isolated from Radix Pseudostellariae (PRP) on mouse chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) induced by intraperitoneal injection of polyriboinosinic:polyribocytidylic acid (poly I:C), a double-stranded synthetic RNA. It has shown that the fatigue symptom of mice lasted at least 1 week as evaluated by forced swimming time. PRP (100, 200, 400 mg kg−1), orally administered 3 days before poly I:C injection, showed dose-dependent anti-fatigue effects. In addition, poly I:C led to evident alternations in neuroendocrine and immune systems of mice, such as reduced spontaneous activity and learning ability, declined serum level of corticosterone, increased weight indexes and T lymphocyte numbers in thymuses and spleens, and increased CD4

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Polysaccharide of Radix Pseudostellariae Improves Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Induced by Poly I:C in Mice

Polysaccharide of Radix Pseudostellariae Improves Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Induced by Poly I:C in Mice Rong Sheng,1 Xianxiang Xu,1 Qin Tang,1 Difei Bian,1 Ying Li,1 Cheng Qian,1 Xin He,1 Xinghua Gao,1 Rong Pan,1 Chong Wang,1 Yubin Luo,1 Yufeng Xia,2 and Yue Dai1 1Department of Pharmacology of Chinese Materia Medica, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China 2Department of Chinese Materia Medica Analysis, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China Received 13 January 2009; Accepted 13 November 2009 Copyright © 2011 Rong Sheng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Radix Pseudostellariae is used as a tonic drug in traditional Chinese medicine with immunomodulating and anti-fatigue activities, and the polysaccharide is considered as the main active component. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the polysaccharide isolated from Radix Pseudostellariae (PRP) on mouse chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) induced by intraperitoneal injection of polyriboinosinic:polyribocytidylic acid (poly I:C), a double-stranded synthetic RNA. It has shown that the fatigue symptom of mice lasted at least 1 week as evaluated by forced swimming time. PRP (100, 200, 400 mg kg−1), orally administered 3 days before poly I:C injection, showed dose-dependent anti-fatigue effects. In addition, poly I:C led to evident alternations in neuroendocrine and immune systems of mice, such as reduced spontaneous activity and learning ability, declined serum level of corticosterone, increased weight indexes and T lymphocyte numbers in thymuses and spleens, and increased CD4+/CD8+ ratio but decreased proliferation ability of T lymphocytes in spleens. PRP alleviated the abnormalities caused by poly I:C, and restored the function of hosts to normal conditions. The findings suggest that PRP is beneficial to CFS, and the underlying mechanisms of action involve neuroendocrine and immune systems. 1. Introduction Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was first defined in 1988 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as unexplained disabling fatigue lasting more than 6 months, together with a combination of non-specific accompanying symptoms [1]. CFS patients usually experience substantial reductions in occupational, educational and social functions, which collectively hamper the quality of life [2]. In addition, CFS is a debilitating syndrome with a cluster of multi-system dysfunctions [3], mainly involving the neuroendocrine and immune systems, and usually influencing other systems as well [4–7]. The pathogenesis of CFS probably includes immune system abnormalities, chronic immune activation, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction, brain anomalies, emotional stress and exogenous insults [8]. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of the fatigue symptoms in any clinical condition. Viral infection is of vital importance to CFS as considered from an etiologic aspect. Emotional stress appears to be important as well, as it impairs the normal function of the immune system against infections. Furthermore, emotional stress has been shown to determine, whether or not, an individual develops fatigue symptom upon virus infection, and can lead to the activation of the HPA axis. Likewise, a number of studies have focused on altered immune function in CFS, and immune function anomalies have been considered as potential explanations for the symptom complex or as possible predisposing factors for altered responses to infections. Polyriboinosinic:polyribocytidylic acid (poly I:C), a double-stranded synthetic RNA, is frequently applied in animal experiments to mimic a condition of viral infection. Recently, Katafuchi et al. [9] reported that intraperitoneal injection of poly I:C in rats resulted in a significant and persistent reduction of spontaneous running wheel activity, which could be considered as an animal model of immunologically chronic fatigue with mechanisms closely related to the neuronal-endocrine-immune interactions. Alternative medicines including Traditional Chinese Medicine have advantages of being effective to alleviate symptoms of CFS such as fatigue, disordered sleep, cognitive handicap and other complex complaints with minor side effects. The underlying mechanisms mainly include regulating immune function, adjusting abnormalities in the HPA axis and antioxidation [10]. Pinus pinaste bark could alleviate fatigue and activate the endogenous antioxidant enzyme system [11]. Angelica sinensis and Matricaria chamomilla extracts could ameliorate fatigue and sleep disturbances [12]. Panax ginseng has been used for centuries in Oriental folk medicine against fatigue. It could elevate movement ability and resist against CNS fatigue in mice [13]. Clinically, Ginseng could alleviate chronic f (...truncated)


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Rong Sheng, Xianxiang Xu, Qin Tang, Difei Bian, Ying Li, Cheng Qian, Xin He, Xinghua Gao, Rong Pan, Chong Wang, Yubin Luo, Yufeng Xia, Yue Dai. Polysaccharide of Radix Pseudostellariae Improves Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Induced by Poly I:C in Mice, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011, 2011, DOI: 10.1093/ecam/nep208