Progress Made in Research on Mechanism of Angelica for Cerebral Ischemia
Recent research by experts including Liao Weijing and Yang Jingwei from Wuhan University has found that Angelica can reduce apoptosis in ischemic brain regions in rat focal cerebral ischemia models, uncovering a mechanism underlying its therapeutic effect on cerebral ischemia injury. This milestone result from a National Natural Science Foundation project also demonstrates that combining clinical and basic medicine is an effective method for revealing mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicines.
Brain ischemia is a common cause of cerebrovascular disease, and its prevention and treatment are shared goals in both Chinese and Western medicine. Angelica is a traditional Chinese herb used for activating blood circulation and resolving stasis, reducing platelet aggregation, significantly improving blood circulation, and preventing thrombosis. While Angelica has shown promising results in treating cerebral ischemia injury, its specific mechanisms have remained unclear, limiting acceptance by Western medicine.
Professor Liao Weijing explained that through integration of basic and clinical medicine and molecular techniques, repeated experiments on rats revealed that after two hours of cerebral ischemia, infarct lesions appeared in the core ischemic zone, and numerous apoptotic cells were observed in the penumbra. After Angelica treatment, infarct size significantly decreased, and apoptotic cells markedly reduced, demonstrating strong protective effects against ischemic injury.