Review on the characteristics of liver-pacifying medicinal in relation to the treatment of stroke: from scientific evidence to traditional medical theory

Abstract OBJECTIVE To analyze the characteristics of liver pacifying medicinal in the treatment of brain disease to provide scientific evidence in clinical usage on stroke. METHODS MEDLINE/PubMed, Google Scholar, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database were used as the literature sources. The Scientific name, Latin pharmaceutical name, Chinese name of 7 kinds of liver pacifying medicinal including Gouteng ( Ramulus Uncariae Rhynchophyllae cum Uncis ), Tianma ( Rhizoma Gastrodiae ), Juemingzi ( Semen Cassiae Obtusifoliae ), Quanxie ( Scorpio ), Wugong ( Scolopendra ), Jiangcan ( Bombyx Batryticatus ), and Dilong ( Pheretima Aspergillum ) were used as the keywords to search the databases for relevant publications up to July 2016. Their major compounds were also used as the keywords. The papers were selected based on the pharmacological activities and mechanisms of action related to brain diseases and subsequently, were analyzed and reviewed. We first described the origin, efficacy, and clinical indications of selected medicines, then brain disease specific activities focusing on stroke after the description of the general pharmacological activities. RESULTS On the basis of the literature of scientific studies and clinical use in traditional medicine, we found and discussed the characteristics of liver pacifying medicinal in stroke treatment. First, liver-pacifying medicinal, or their components, might pass through the blood-brain barrier and act directly on neurons or on the neural network to provide protective effects against brain disease. Second, although it could be used throughout the disease duration, treatment of stroke might be more effective from the subacute up to the convalescent phase than the acute phase. CONCLUSION We can suggest that live pacifying medicinal has beneficial pharmacological activities directly or indirectly on neurons in brain disease and is useful for the treatment of stroke from subacute to convalescent phase.