Effects of Shin'i-seihai-to and Sho-seiryu-to on Production of Active Oxygen Species by Neutrophils.

It has been reported that Shin'i-seihai-to and Sho-seiryu-to, which are Kampo (Chinese herbal) medicines, are effective for sinusitis and nasal allergy, respectively. It has been suggested that excessive active oxygen species are probably involved in the pathogenesis of chronic sinusitis and allergic diseases.In this study, the effect of Shin' i-seihai-to and Sho-seiryu-to on the production of active oxygen species by human neutrophils was investigated with an in vitro luminol-dependent chemiluminescence method and a cytochrome-C reduction method.Neutrophil production of active oxygen species induced by FMLP (formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanin) was significantly inhibited by Shin' i-seihai-to and Sho-seiryu-to in a dose dependent manner. The inhibition by Shin' i-seihai-to occurred at lower concentration than that by Sho-seiryu-to.Neutrophil production of active oxygen species induced by opsonized zymosan was not changed by Shin'i-seihai-to.Superoxide dismutase activity by Shin'i-seihai-to and Sho-seiryu-to could not be demonstrated by the cytochrome-C reduction method.These results indicate that inhibition of neutrophil production of active oxygen species by Shin'i-seihai-to and Sho-seiryu-to is one of the pharmacological properties of these two Kampo medicines.