Xiangqing anodyne spray (XQAS): a combination of ethanol extracts of Cynanchum paniculatum and Illicium henryi for treating soft-tissue injury.

PURPOSE To compare the pharmacodynamic effects of an anodyne spray (XQAS) containing extracts of two herbs, Cynanchum paniculatum (CP) and Illicium henryi (IH), with those of spray containing the vehicle alone, CP alone (CPS) or IH alone (IHS), when applied topically acute soft tissue injury (STI) in an animal model. METHODS Acute closed STI was modeled by hammer blow in the hind leg muscle of rat. In the acute test, XQAS, vehicle and normal saline (NS) were applied topically with instantly and repeatedly every 2 h for 8 h after modeling. In the chronic test, XQAS, vehicle, NS, CPS and IHS were applied topically respectively with instantly and repeatedly every 8 h for 96 h after modeling. RESULTS XQAS (150 μl/time) rapidly suppressed STI-caused muscle swelling, high contents of inflammatory mediators such as prostaglandin-E2, interleukin-lβ, nitric oxide and so on. XQAS (100 and 250 μl/time) also showed chronic effects with dose-dependent suppressions of muscle swelling, up-regulated mRNA expressions of nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65), cyclooxygenase-2 and interleukin-lβ, high contents of inflammatory mediators, and muscle cells impairment and necrosis induced by STI, while XQAS was more effective than CPS or HIS on treating STI. CONCLUSION XQAS can suppress STI-caused increased gene expressions of NF-κB p65 and its downstream genes which mediate biosyntheses of inflammatory mediators, resulting in suppressed swelling, inflammatory reaction and cell impairment in the injured muscle. There is a synergistic effect between CPS and IHS on curing STI.