茵陳蒿湯抗氧化作用之研究

The Study on the Antioxidative Effect of Inchenhau-Tang

我們在過去的研究中發現，十二種常用保肝中藥方劑中以茵陳蒿湯的抗氧化活性最為明顯。由於茵陳蒿湯經常被使用於治療急性肝炎，因此，本研究進一步觀察茵陳蒿湯對急性肝炎患者之全血超氧陰離子(O2-)及過氧化氫(H2O2)之清除作用，並進一步探討茵陳蒿湯的組成三種中藥大黃、茵陳蒿及梔子之抗氧化作用。結果發現，茵陳蒿湯水萃取物可以顯著地清除急性肝炎患者全血中的超氧陰離子及過氧化氫，但以清除超氧陰離子的作用較明顯。另一方面，茵陳蒿湯的三種組成生藥大黃、茵陳蒿、梔子之水萃取物都具有清除由黃嘌呤／黃嘌呤氧化酵素產生之超氧陰離子的作用，並且能抑制氯化亞鐵誘發大白鼠肝細胞脂質過氧化，三種中藥的抗氧化活性中以大黃最為顯著。由以上結果顯示，茵陳蒿湯能有效地清除急性肝炎患者全血中之氧自由基，而三種組成中藥中又以大黃為最強的抗氧化劑。

In a previous study, we found that Inchenhau-Tang (ICHT) is the most strong anti-oxidant among twelve herb drug prescriptions that are commonly used in treatment of liver disease. ICHT is mostly used in treatment of acute hepatitis with jaundice. Therefore, in this study we further investigated the scavenging effect of ICHT on the oxygen radicals, including superoxide anion (O2 (superscript -)) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the whole blood of patients with acute hepatitis. We also investigated the anti-oxidative effect of Artemisiae Capillaris Herba (ACH), Gardeniae Fructus (GF), and Rhei Rhizoma (RR) which are composed of ICHT. The results show that the water extract of ICHT significantly scavenged both superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide in the whole blood of patients with acute hepatitis. The scavenging effect of ICHT on superoxide anion was greater than that on hydrogen peroxide. Furthermore, all of water extracts of three composed herb drugs significantly scavenged superoxide anion produced by xanthine/xanthine oxidase, and markedly inhibited the production of lipid peroxide from rat liver cells induced by FeCl2. Among them, RR had the most strong anti-oxidative effect. The above results revealed that water extract of ICHT can scavenge oxygen radicals in the whole blood of patients with acute hepatitis. Among three composed herb drugs of ICHT, RR is a most important antioxidant.