traditional Chinese medicine – Page 6 – American ME and CFS Society

Characterization of a protein-bound polysaccharide from Herba Epimedii and its metabolic mechanism in chronic fatigue syndrome

Abstract:

OBJECTIVES: Herba Epimedii is one of the famous Traditional Chinese Medicines used to treat the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The polysaccharides are the main active components in Herba Epimedii. The aim of this study is to discover the therapeutic effect and metabolic mechanism of Herba Epimedii polysaccharides against CFS.

METHODS: The polysaccharide conjugates named HEP2-a were isolated from the leaves of Herba Epimedii using a water extraction method, and the general physicochemical properties of HEP2-a were analysed. In addition, a CFS rat model was established, and then, urinary metabonomic studies were performed using gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) in combination with multivariate statistical analysis.

RESULTS: The physicochemical properties revealed that HEP2-a had an average molecular weight of 13.6×104 Da and consisted of mannose (4.41%), rhamnose (5.43%), glucose (31.26%), galactose (27.07%), arabinose (23.43%), and galacturonic acid (8.40%). The amino acids in HEP2-a include glutamate, cysteine, leucine, tyrosine, lysine, and histidine. Molecular morphology studies revealed many highly curled spherical particles with diameters of 5-10µm in solids and 100-200nm for particles in water. Five metabolites in the HEP2-a group were oppositely and significantly changed compared to the CFS model group.

CONCLUSION: Two metabolic pathways were identified as significant metabolic pathways involved with HEP2-a. The therapeutic effects of HEP2-a on CFS were partially due to the restoration of these disturbed pathways.

Source: Chi A, Shen Z, Zhu W, Sun Y, Kang Y, Guo F. Characterization of a protein-bound polysaccharide from Herba Epimedii and its metabolic mechanism in chronic fatigue syndrome. J Ethnopharmacol. 2017 Mar 27. pii: S0378-8741(16)31138-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.03.041. [Epub ahead of print] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28359851

Acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic fatigue syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: As the etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is unclear and the treatment is still a big issue. There exists a wide range of literature about acupuncture and moxibustion (AM) for CFS in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). But there are certain doubts as well in the effectiveness of its treatment due to the lack of a comprehensive and evidence-based medical proof to dispel the misgivings. Current study evaluated systematically the effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion treatments on CFS, and clarified the difference among them and Chinese herbal medicine, western medicine and sham-acupuncture.

METHODS: We comprehensively reviewed literature including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, CBM (Chinese Biomedical Literature Database) and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) up to May 2016, for RCT clinical research on CFS treated by acupuncture and moxibustion. Traditional direct meta-analysis was adopted to analyze the difference between AM and other treatments. Analysis was performed based on the treatment in experiment and control groups. Network meta-analysis was adopted to make comprehensive comparisons between any two kinds of treatments. The primary outcome was total effective rate, while relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used as the final pooled statistics.

RESULTS: A total of 31 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were enrolled in analyses. In traditional direct meta-analysis, we found that in comparison to Chinese herbal medicine, CbAM (combined acupuncture and moxibustion, which meant two or more types of acupuncture and moxibustion were adopted) had a higher total effective rate (RR (95% CI), 1.17 (1.09 ~ 1.25)). Compared with Chinese herbal medicine, western medicine and sham-acupuncture, SAM (single acupuncture or single moxibustion) had a higher total effective rate, with RR (95% CI) of 1.22 (1.14 ~ 1.30), 1.51 (1.31-1.74), 5.90 (3.64-9.56). In addition, compared with SAM, CbAM had a higher total effective rate (RR (95% CI), 1.23 (1.12 ~ 1.36)). In network meta-analyses, similar results were recorded. Subsequently, we ranked all treatments from high to low effective rate and the order was CbAM, SAM, Chinese herbal medicine, western medicine and sham-acupuncture.

CONCLUSIONS: In the treatment of CFS, CbAM and SAM may have better effect than other treatments. However, the included trials have relatively poor quality, hence high quality studies are needed to confirm our finding.

Source: Wang T, Xu C, Pan K, Xiong H. Acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic fatigue syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Mar 23;17(1):163. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-1647-x. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28335756

Moxibustion at Gaohuang (BL 43) for chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) treated with moxibustion at Gaohuang (BL 43).

METHODS: With stratified block randomization, 72 patients accorded with inclusive criteria were divided into a moxibustion at Gaohuang (BL 43) group (moxibustion group) and an acupuncture group, 36 cases in each one. In the moxibustion group, Gaohuang (BL 43) was treated with big moxa cones as the main acupoint, 10 cones a time; Qihai (CV 6) and Zusanli (ST 36) were added with big moxa cones, 7 cones a time. In the acupuncture group, acupoints were the same as those in the moxibustion group, and twirling reinforcing method was used after qi arriving, 60 times one minute and 360° with range. In the two groups, 10-day treatment was made into one course and there were two days between courses. The treatment was given once a day for 3 courses. Changes of fatigue assessment index (FAI) before and after treatment and clinical effects were observed.

RESULTS: The total effective rate was 88.9% (32/36) in the moxibustion group, which was better than 72.2% (26/36) in the acupuncture group apparently (P < 0.05). After treatment in the two groups, FAI scores were obviously declined compared with those before treatment (both P < 0.01) and FAI score in the moxibustion group was apparently lower than that in the acupuncture group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Moxibustion at Gaohuang (BL 43) can improve the FAI score of patients with CFS and the clinical efficacy is definite.

Source: Tian L, Wang J, Luo C, Sun R, Zhang X, Yuan B, Du XZ. Moxibustion at Gaohuang (BL 43) for chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2015 Nov;35(11):1127-30. [Article in Chinese] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26939325

Effect of Lixujieyu recipe in combination with Five Elements music therapy on chronic fatigue syndrome

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effects of the Lixujieyu recipe combined with Five Elements music therapy on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) identified as the symptom patterns of liver stagnation and spleen deficiency in terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

METHODS: Patients with CFS were randomly divided into treatment group 1 (Lixujieyu recipe combined with Gong-Tune, n = 15); treatment group 2 (Lixujieyu recipe combined with Jiao-Tune, n = 15); treatment group 3 (Lixujieyu recipe combined with Yu-Tune, n = 15); treatment group 4 (Lixujieyu recipe combined with Shang-Tune, n = 15); treatment group 5 (Lixuiievu recipe combined with Zhi-Tune, n = 15); and the control group (Lixujieyu recipe alone, n = 15). Chinese medicine was given twice daily, and music was listened to for 45 minutes daily, 5 days a week. All patients were treated for 4 weeks. Patients were assessed via the Fatigue Scale, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale before and after treatment.

RESULTS: Treatment groups 1 and 2 had better effects on relieving the symptoms of physical fatigue related to anxiety and depression than the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Lixujieyu recipe combined with Gong-Tune or Jiao-Tune significantly relieved the symptoms of CFS.

Source: Zhang Z, Cai Z, Yu Y, Wu L, Zhang Y. Effect of Lixujieyu recipe in combination with Five Elements music therapy on chronic fatigue syndrome. J Tradit Chin Med. 2015 Dec;35(6):637-41. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26742307

Hybrid facial image feature extraction and recognition for non-invasive chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis

Abstract:

Due to an absence of reliable biochemical markers, the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) mainly relies on the clinical symptoms, and the experience and skill of the doctors currently. To improve objectivity and reduce work intensity, a hybrid facial feature is proposed.

First, several kinds of appearance features are identified in different facial regions according to clinical observations of traditional Chinese medicine experts, including vertical striped wrinkles on the forehead, puffiness of the lower eyelid, the skin colour of the cheeks, nose and lips, and the shape of the mouth corner. Afterwards, such features are extracted and systematically combined to form a hybrid feature.

We divide the face into several regions based on twelve active appearance model (AAM) feature points, and ten straight lines across them. Then, Gabor wavelet filtering, CIELab color components, threshold-based segmentation and curve fitting are applied to extract features, and Gabor features are reduced by a manifold preserving projection method. Finally, an AdaBoost based score level fusion of multi-modal features is performed after classification of each feature.

Despite that the subjects involved in this trial are exclusively Chinese, the method achieves an average accuracy of 89.04% on the training set and 88.32% on the testing set based on the K-fold cross-validation. In addition, the method also possesses desirable sensitivity and specificity on CFS prediction.

Source: Chen Y, Liu W, Zhang L, Yan M, Zeng Y. Hybrid facial image feature extraction and recognition for non-invasive chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis. Comput Biol Med. 2015 Sep;64:30-9. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2015.06.005. Epub 2015 Jun 15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26117650

The theoretical basis for chronic fatigue syndrome from bladder meridian of foot-taiyang

Abstract:

The bladder meridian of foot-taiyang is considered as key of six meridians and the yang of the yang, which is the pivot of transportation for qi and blood in the meridians and zang-fu. The running route and treatment characteristic of bladder meridian is closely related with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The bladder meridian belongs to brain and connects with governor vessel, which has a close relationship with zang-fu function, quality of sleep and fatigue. Besides, the running route of bladder meridian is highly consistent with the surface projections of important anatomical structures such as muscle, nerve and sympathetic trunk, etc. Therefore, regulating the meridian-qi of bladder meridian can harmonize five-zang and calm the mind, but also effectively relieve physical and mental fatigue in CFS.

Source: Yao F, Zhao Y, Jiang S, Fang M. The theorotical basis for chronic fatigue syndrome from bladder meridian of foot-taiyang. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2015 Mar;35(3):295-8. [Article in Chinese] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26062210

Immunomodulating and antioxidant effects of polysaccharide conjugates from the fruits of Ziziphus Jujube on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome rats

Abstract:

To detect the treatment effect of the fruits of Ziziphus Jujube in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Jujube polysaccharide conjugates (JPC) were isolated from the fruits of Z. Jujube. General physicochemical properties of JPC were analyzed.

A four-week rats CFS model was established and JPC were orally administrated, the behavior experiments were conducted after CFS. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum were elevated and T lymphocyte proliferation, CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio and natural killer (NK) cells activity were analyzed.

JPC markedly improved behaviors of CFS rats, also decreased MDA levels in serum, and elevated T lymphocyte proliferation, CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio and natural killer (NK) cells activities. This suggests that JPC can improve the immune system and antioxidant activity of CFS rats and might be regarded as a biological response modifier.

Source: Chi A, Kang C, Zhang Y, Tang L, Guo H, Li H, Zhang K. Immunomodulating and antioxidant effects of polysaccharide conjugates from the fruits of Ziziphus Jujube on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome rats. Carbohydr Polym. 2015 May 20;122:189-96. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.12.082. Epub 2015 Jan 14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25817658

Yang/Qi invigoration: an herbal therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome with yang deficiency?

Abstract:

According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, Yang and Qi are driving forces of biological activities in the human body. Based on the crucial role of the mitochondrion in energy metabolism, we propose an extended view of Yang and Qi in the context of mitochondrion-driven cellular and body function.

It is of interest that the clinical manifestations of Yang/Qi deficiencies in TCM resemble those of chronic fatigue syndrome in Western medicine, which is pathologically associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. By virtue of their ability to enhance mitochondrial function and its regulation, Yang- and Qi-invigorating tonic herbs, such as Cistanches Herba and Schisandrae Fructus, may therefore prove to be beneficial in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome with Yang deficiency.

Source: Leong PK, Wong HS, Chen J, Ko KM. Yang/Qi invigoration: an herbal therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome with yang deficiency? Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:945901. doi: 10.1155/2015/945901. Epub 2015 Feb 11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4339790/ (Full article)

Traditional Chinese medicine for chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: There is no curative treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used in the treatment of CFS in China.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of TCM for CFS.

METHODS: The protocol of this review is registered at PROSPERO. We searched six main databases for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on TCM for CFS from their inception to September 2013. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the methodological quality. We used RevMan 5.1 to synthesize the results.

RESULTS: 23 RCTs involving 1776 participants were identified. The risk of bias of the included studies was high. The types of TCM interventions varied, including Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, qigong, moxibustion, and acupoint application. The results of meta-analyses and several individual studies showed that TCM alone or in combination with other interventions significantly alleviated fatigue symptoms as measured by Chalder’s fatigue scale, fatigue severity scale, fatigue assessment instrument by Joseph E. Schwartz, Bell’s fatigue scale, and guiding principle of clinical research on new drugs of TCM for fatigue symptom. There was no enough evidence that TCM could improve the quality of life for CFS patients. The included studies did not report serious adverse events.

CONCLUSIONS: TCM appears to be effective to alleviate the fatigue symptom for people with CFS. However, due to the high risk of bias of the included studies, larger, well-designed studies are needed to confirm the potential benefit in the future.

Source: Wang YY, Li XX, Liu JP, Luo H, Ma LX, Alraek T. Traditional Chinese medicine for chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials. Complement Ther Med. 2014 Aug;22(4):826-33. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2014.06.004. Epub 2014 Jun 30. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25146086

Observation on therapeutic effect of chronic fatigue syndrome treated with coiling dragon needling and moving cupping on back

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To compare the differences of therapeutic effect of chronic fatigue syndrome treated with the combined therapy of coiling dragon needling and cupping on back and the western medicine therapy with Prednisone.

METHODS: Seventy-two cases were randomly divided into an acupuncture and cupping group (37 cases) and a Prednisone group (35 cases). In acupuncture and cupping group, Jiaji (EX-B 2) points of T1–L5 were applied with coiling dragon needling (once a day), combined with moving cupping on back (once every two days); in Prednisone group, Prednisone tablets were orally taken for 10 mg at 8:00 am. Seven days made one course, and 2 courses were carried on totally. FS-14 scale and BELL’s chronic fatigue syndrome integral table were applied to evaluate the fatigue degree of patients before and after treatment, and the therapeutic effects of both groups were compared.

RESULTS: After one course of treatment, the BELL’s scores of both groups were obviously improved (both P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between groups (P > 0.05); after two courses of treatment, the BELL’s score in acupuncture and cupping group improved more obviously than that in Prednisone group, and the total effective rate of 91.9% (34/37) in acupuncture and cupping group was superior to that of 71.4% (25/35) in Prednisone group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The therapeutic effect of chronic fatigue syndrome treated with coiling dragon needling and moving cupping on back is positive, superior to that of Prednisone with oral administration.

Source: Xu W, Zhou RH, Li L, Jiang MW. Observation on therapeutic effect of chronic fatigue syndrome treated with coiling dragon needling and moving cupping on back. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2012 Mar;32(3):205-8. [Article in Chinese] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22471128