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Discovery of a traditional Chinese herbal combination for the treatment of atopic dermatitis: saposhnikoviae radix, astragali radix and cnidium monnieri

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Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a skin disease characterized by pruritus. The present study aimed to discover a herbal combination with anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory activities to treat AD. First, the anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory activities of herbs were evaluated by RBL-2H3 degranulation and HaCaT inflammatory models. Subsequently, the optimal proportion of herbs was determined by uniform design-response surface methodology. The effectiveness and synergistic mechanism was further verified. Cnidium monnieri (CM) suppressed β-hexosaminidase (β-HEX) release, saposhnikoviae radix (SR), astragali radix (AR), and CM inhibited the release of IL-8 and MCP-1. The optimal proportion of herbs was SR∶AR∶CM = 1: 2: 1. The in vivo experiments results indicated that the topical application of combination at high (2 ×) and low (1 ×) doses improved dermatitis score and epidermal thickness, and attenuated mast cell infiltration. Network pharmacology and molecular biology further clarified that the combination resisted AD by regulating the MAPK, JAK signaling pathways, and the downstream cytokines such as IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, IL-10, and MCP-1. Overall, the herbal combination could inhibit inflammation and allergy, improving AD-like symptoms. The present study discovers a promising herbal combination, worthy of further development as a therapeutic drug for AD.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are included within the article, and further details are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Abbreviations

AD:

Atopic dermatitis

TCM:

Traditional Chinese medicine

β-HEX:

β-Hexosaminidase

SR:

Saposhnikoviae radix

CM:

Cnidium monnieri

AR:

Astragali radix

DNCB:

2,4-Dinitrofluorobenzene

IgE:

Immunoglobulin E

IL-8:

Interleukin-8

DNCB:

2,4-Dinitrochlorobenzene

MCP-1:

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1

KF:

Ketotifen fumarate

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82073996).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of TCM-Information Engineer of State Administration of TCM, School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 102488, China

    Yue Ren, Qi Wu, Chaoqun Liu, Jianing Zhang, Zian Wang, Yingying Li & Yanling Zhang

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  1. Yue Ren
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  2. Qi Wu
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  3. Chaoqun Liu
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  4. Jianing Zhang
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  5. Zian Wang
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  6. Yingying Li
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  7. Yanling Zhang
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Contributions

YR: Conceptualization, Visualization, Writing—Original Draft. QW: Data curation, Validation. CL: Investigation. JZ: Formal analysis. ZW: Validation. YL: Software. YZ: Supervision, Writing—Review and Editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yanling Zhang.

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Ren, Y., Wu, Q., Liu, C. et al. Discovery of a traditional Chinese herbal combination for the treatment of atopic dermatitis: saposhnikoviae radix, astragali radix and cnidium monnieri. Arch Dermatol Res 315, 1953–1970 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-023-02575-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-023-02575-9

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