The novel preventive effect of Daikenchuto (TJ-100), a Japanese herbal drug, against neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis in rats

• Published in: Pediatric surgery international Vol. 33; no. 10; pp. 1109 - 1114
• Main Authors: Shinyama, Shin, Kaji, Tatsuru, Mukai, Motoi, Nakame, Kazuhiko, Matsufuji, Hiroshi, Takamatsu, Hideo, Ieiri, Satoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-10-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Disease Models, Animal; Enterocolitis, Necrotizing - prevention & control; Gastrointestinal diseases; Herbal medicine; Humans; Ileum - drug effects; Ileum - metabolism; Incidence; Interleukin-6 - metabolism; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Necrosis; Newborn babies; Original Article; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rodents; Surgery; Rat model; Necrotizing enterocolitis; Daikenchuto; NEC grade; IL-6
• ISSN: 0179-0358; 1437-9813
• DOI: 10.1007/s00383-017-4145-9

Purpose
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating gastrointestinal disease of premature infants. Daikenchuto, a Japanese herbal drug, has several effects on the digestive system, so we investigated its preventive effects in a rat model of NEC.
Methods
NEC was induced in newborn rats via asphyxia (100% N
2
for 90 s; every 4 h) + LPS (4 mg/kg/day [administered orally on days 0 and 1]). The effects of Daikenchuto were evaluated in four groups (control: 0 g/kg/day, I: 0.3 g/kg/day, II: 0.6 g/kg/day, and III: 1.0 g/kg/day). Daikenchuto was administered into the stomach through a microcatheter. The incidence and severity of NEC were pathologically assessed using the NEC grade in accordance with Dovorak’s previous report. Cell positivity for inflammatory cytokine (IL-6) was also evaluated.
Results
Daikenchuto reduced the incidence of NEC in control, Groups I, II, and III to 68.7, 30.0, 30.7, and 13.3%, respectively. High-dose Daikenchuto significantly improved the incidence of NEC, and the rate of IL-6 positive cells in group III was significantly lower than in the control group (
p
 = 0.04).
Conclusion
We evaluated the effect of Daikenchuto against NEC and found that it reduced the incidence rate of NEC due to a decrease in the IL-6 production.