Mediators of Inflammation
Volume 2009 (2009), Article ID 602935, 9 pages
doi:10.1155/2009/602935
Research Article

Protective Effects of Salvia miltiorrhizae on Multiple Organs of Rats with Obstructive Jaundice

Zhang Ling,1 Zhang Xiping,2 Qiu Fengmei,3 Yan Ping,3 and Cheng Qihui4

1The Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, Lakehead University, 290 Munro Street, Thunder Bay, ON, P7A 7 T1, Canada
2Department of General Surgery, Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang, China
3Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang, China
4Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang, China

Received 9 May 2009; Accepted 10 June 2009

Academic Editor: Vera L. Petricevich

Copyright © 2009 Zhang Ling 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

Purpose. we aim to explore the protective effects of Salvia miltiorrhizae injection on multiple organs of obstructive jaundice (OJ) rats through observing the impact of this injection on the pathological alterations in these organs and the contents of endotoxin, PLA2, and TNF-α in the blood. Methods. A total of 90 mice were randomly divided into sham-operated group, model-control group, and Salvia miltiorrhizae-treated group (n=30). According to the duration of postoperative administration, each group was further divided into two subgroups, namely, 21 d subgroup (consecutive administration for 21 d, n=15) and 28 d subgroup (consecutive administration for 28 d, n=15). After administration, the pathological alterations in multiple organs were observed and the contents of endotoxin, PLA2, and TNF-α in the blood were determined. Results. Compared to model control group, the number of dead rats in treated group decreased though there was no statistical difference between the two groups. The pathological alterations in the liver, kidney, and spleen in treated group showed varying degrees of mitigation. At all time points, the contents of plasma endotoxin declined significantly. On day 28, plasma PLA2 content in treated group was significantly lower than that in model-control group. Conclusion. Salvia miltiorrhizae injection is able to obviously reduce the contents of inflammatory mediators in the blood of OJ rats and exert some protective effects on multiple organs of these rats.