The anti-inflammation effect of Baige capsule and its principal components mixture in MCAO rats

Background: Baige (BG) is a compound Chinese herbal preparation, constituted of different position extracts (ethanol extracts from Pueraria lobate and SFE-CO₂ extracts from Radix Angelicae dahuricae) of P. lobata and A. dahurica to treat the brain injury in patients. Aim: The goal of this study was to identify the neuroprotective properties of BG and its principal component mixture (PCM) and verify whether the material basis for BG is its PCM. Methods: Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was operated on male Sprague-Dawley rat for 2 h, different doses of BG or PCM or vehicle were gavaged after 3 h of MCAO. Rats were sacrificed after 30 days treatment. Blood serum inflammation factors and NGF were detected by ELISA. Results: After 30 days of treatment, both BG and PCM interventions reduced the infarct volume, modified neurological severity score (mNSS) in rats, declined IL-1β and IL-6 levels in the serum, increased NGF level in the serum and recovered the number of Nissl body in injured brain. Conclusions: Both BG and PCM exert equivalent levels of recovery effect in MCAO on rats; and PCM is the material foundation of BG. This recovery effect is associated with inflammatory inhibition and NGF production.