Effects of butylphthalide injection on serum IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α and prognosis in patients with acute cerebral infarction

Objective To investigate the effects of butylphthalide injection on serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels and the impact of prognosis in patients with acute cerebral infarction. Methods 80 patients with acute cerebral infarction who were hospitalized in Xuzhou Central Hospital from May 2016 to April 2018 were randomly divided into control group and treatment group, each with 40 cases. The control group was given conventional treatments such as blood pressure control, blood glucose control, lipid lowering, and anti-platelet aggregation. In addition of the conventional treatments, butylphthalide for injection was added for 14 days. The concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scate scores were measured before and 14 days after treatment. MOCA score were performed before and 3 months after treatment. The χ2 test was used to compare the differences in total effectiveness and gender, and the independent sample t test was used to compare the differences in serum IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α concentration, NIHSS score, and MOCA score between the groups. Results There were no significant differences in the concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α and NIHSS, MOCA scores between the two groups of patients before treatment (P＞0.05). After 14 days of treatment, the concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α in the treatment group decreased much more than that in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant. The NIHSS score of the treatment group was significantly lower than the control group [(6.29±1.72) pg/ml vs (7.78±1.97) pg/ml; (13.40±1.20) ng/L vs (18.12±1.30) ng/L; (1.28±0.35) pg/ml vs (1.43±0.32) pg/ml], and the difference was statistically significant. After 3 months, the MOCA score was higher than the control group [(26.38±1.60) vs (25.03±2.36)], and the difference was statistically significant. Conclusion Compared with the control group, the butylphthalide injection group reduced IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α secretion in patients with acute cerebral infarction, thereby probably improving the prognosis of patients with acute cerebral infarction. Key words: Cerebral infarction; Butylphthalide; Acute phase; Cytokines; Interleukin-6; Interleukin-1β; Tumor necrosis factor-α