Clinical effect and changes of ET-1, FMD and NO levels in the treatment of acute cerebral infarction with acanthopanax injection.

OBJECTIVE

To explore clinical efficacy of acanthopanax injection for the treatment of acute cerebral infarction and its effect on the changes in endothelin-1 (ET-1), flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and nitric oxide (NO) levels.

METHODS

A total of 120 patients with acute cerebral infarction were selected for prospective study. The patients with conventional treatment regimen were the control group while the observation group was treated acanthopanax injection in addition to the treatment given to the control group. Both groups contained 60 patients. After 14 days of treatment, we observed the clinical effects and measured ET-1, NO, FMD, serum C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS), Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in both groups.

RESULTS

The total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group (P=0.020). The improvement of ET-1, FMD, NO, CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 in the observation group was superior to that of the control group (P<0.05). The scores of NIHSS, MMSE and MoCA in the observation group were better than those of the control group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The treatment of acute cerebral infarction with acanthopanax injection may enhance the clinical efficacy, improve vascular endothelial function, reduce inflammation and nerve damage, and improve cognitive function.