Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To investigate the in vivo inhibitory effects of sodium houttuyfonate(SH) on symptom pattern of Qi-deficiency in rats induced by infection of bacterial biofilm on rat respiratory tract.METHODS: Symptom pattern is a term used in Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) to define a cluster of symptoms in a medical condition. Based on the pattern, TCM therapies are administered. The symptom pattern used in this study was lung-Qi deficiency pattern identified in rats, which was induced by nasal intubation drip of Pseudomonas aeruginosa(P. aeruginosa)(two strains) to form bacterial biofilm on airway combined with stimulation of cold and fatigue. We measured the variations of the symptoms of the pattern, weight, spleen and thymus index, blood gas, lung bronchial tissue pathology and cytokine of rat in different treatments and control groups.RESULTS: The rats of SH-treatment groups had not showed typical symptoms comparing with model group in the early stage of infection. The weight,spleen and thymus index of the SH-treatment groups were significantly higher comparing with untreated model group. The SH-treatment groups also showed higher O2 partial pressure and lower CO2 partial pressure than model group. Furthermore, we found that the bronchopulmonary section of SH-treatment groups not showed typical pathogenic variation in model group. The comparison of cytokine concentration in different groups indicated that SH could prevent the over-production of cytokine to reduce the inflammation occurrence.CONCLUSION: In the early stage of airway infection by biofilm of P. aeruginosa, application of SH can prevent the occurrence of lung-Qi deficiency pattern.

Key words: Symptom complex, Lung-Qi deficiency, Sodium houttuyfonate, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Biofilms, In vivo