Yang Meina, Zhang Zhongwen, Fu Jialei, Liu Junyan, Pang Jiangxiang, Fan Hua, Yang Zailin, Zhang Yuanbin, Han Jinxiang
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Ji'nan, Shandong, China.
NHC Key Laboratory of Biotechnology Drugs (Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Biomedical Sciences College, Shandong First Medical University, Ji'nan, Shandong, China.
Heliyon. 2023 Jul 12;9(7):e18055. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18055. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes (T2DM) for thousands of years. The holistic view of TCM and the "multitarget" characteristics of Chinese medicine have unique advantages in the prevention and treatment of T2DM. TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment are effective for T2DM; however, currently, the therapeutic effect of TCM is generally evaluated by asking for patients' subjective feelings, or by checking the changes in relevant indicators. The main problems are that the patient's descriptions are unclear and subjective, and although the self-reported symptoms may have improved significantly, the relevant indicators are sometimes not obvious, which cannot truly reflect the therapeutic effect of TCM. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a novel, sensitive, and noninvasive method to quantitatively evaluate the therapeutic effect of TCM.
In this study, ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) was measured at four sites of hands of T2DM patients with Qi-Yin deficiency before treatment and after 1 and 2 weeks of treatment with TCM. The UPE intensity and spectral distribution were calculated and analyzed using the results measured at these four sites. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to quantify the correlation between the UPE parameters and the syndrome scores of TCM.
The UPE intensity of T2DM patients with Qi-Yin deficiency decreased gradually with the course of the treatment and was significantly lower than that before the treatment. The ratio of photon counts between the wavelength ranges of 495-550 nm and 550-610 nm after the treatment was higher than that before the treatment and negatively correlated with the corresponding syndrome scores so that the degree of symptoms improvement could be characterized by the ratio (495-550 nm/550-610 nm).
The therapeutic effect of TCM in T2DM patients with Qi-Yin deficiency can be shown at the level of UPE. UPE is a potential and noninvasive tool for evaluating the therapeutic effect of TCM in patients with T2DM.
中医用于预防和治疗2型糖尿病（T2DM）已有数千年历史。中医的整体观和中药的“多靶点”特性在T2DM的防治中具有独特优势。中医辨证论治对T2DM有效；然而，目前中医的治疗效果一般通过询问患者主观感受或检查相关指标变化来评估。主要问题是患者描述不清晰且主观，尽管自我报告症状可能有显著改善，但相关指标有时并不明显，无法真实反映中医的治疗效果。因此，迫切需要开发一种新颖、灵敏且无创的方法来定量评估中医的治疗效果。
本研究对气阴两虚型T2DM患者治疗前及中医治疗1周和2周后的手部四个部位进行超微弱光子发射（UPE）测量。利用在这四个部位测得的结果计算并分析UPE强度和光谱分布。采用Spearman相关系数量化UPE参数与中医证候评分之间的相关性。
气阴两虚型T2DM患者的UPE强度随治疗进程逐渐降低，且显著低于治疗前。治疗后495 - 550nm与550 - 610nm波长范围内的光子计数比值高于治疗前，且与相应证候评分呈负相关，可用该比值（495 - 550nm/550 - 610nm）表征症状改善程度。
中医对气阴两虚型T2DM患者的治疗效果可在UPE水平体现。UPE是评估中医对T2DM患者治疗效果的一种潜在无创工具。
