Screen of four nourishing Chinese herbal recipes for treatment of photoreceptor cells apoptosis

OBJECTIVE To study the influence of four nourishing Chinese herbal recipes for treatment of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea(MNU)-induced apoptosis of photoreceptor cells.METHODS Sprague Dawley(SD)rats were divided into six groups:the control group,the model group,the sijunzi(四君子)decoction group,the siwu(四物)decoction group,the qijudihuang(杞菊地黄)decoction group,and the shenqi(肾气)pill group.The photoreceptor cells apoptosis was marked with TUNEL.The thickness of outer nuclear layer(ONL)was measured by HE coloration.RESULTS Compared with the model control group,the apoptotic indexes and the thickness of ONL of the sijunzi decoction group and thes shenqi pill group had no significant difference,whereas that of the siwu decoction group and the qijudihuang decoction group had significant difference.CONCLUSIONS The siwu decoction and qijudihuang decoction could restrain MNU-induced apoptosis of photoreceptor cells.The therapeutic effect of qijudihuang decoction was better than that of siwu decoction.