Objective:To investigate the effect of blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds and waterdraining Chinese medicinal compounds on tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α)and nuclear factor kappaB(NF-κB)expressions in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH)at the acute stage,and to monitor their therapeutic effect and mechanism of action on inflammation and cerebral edema.Methods:A rat model of cerebral hemorrhage was achieved by injecting autologous arterial blood into the caudate nucleus.A total of 168 rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:blood-activating medicine group(n=42),water-draining medicine group(n=42),sham operated group(n=42),and the model group(n=42).A series of brain samples were obtained at days 1,3 and 5 after ICH from rats in all groups.Protein expression levels of TNF-αand NF-κB were measured by immunohistochemical staining and gene expression levels of TNF-αand NF-κB were measured by real-time fluorescent PCR.Results:Compared to the sham operated group,protein expression levels of TNF-αand NF-κB in the model group significantly increased(P<0.01).Protein and gene expressions of TNF-αfrom the blood-activating medicine group and water-draining medicine group significantly decreased when compared to those in the model group(P<0.05).Meanwhile,compared to the model group,the expression of NF-κB in the blood-activating medicine group significantly decreased(P<0.05),while expression of NF-κB in the water-draining medicine group did not differ(P>0.05).Conclusions:Blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds and water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds can alleviate inflammation of peripheral tissue and cerebral edema.However,the blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds were more effective than the water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds.The possible effective mechanism may be by means of inhibiting the activation of NF-κB so as to suppress the transcription of target genes including gene expression of TNF-α.
