Zhu Xiao, Liu Qiong, Cao Meiqun, Feng Zhitao
School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China.
Third-Grade Pharmacological Laboratory on Chinese Medicine Approved By State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Medical College of China Three Gorges University, Yichang, Hubei 443002, China.
Heliyon. 2023 Aug 20;9(8):e19232. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19232. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Chaihu-Shugan-San (CSS) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula employed to treat depression. We aim to conduct a reporting quality assessment and risk of bias evaluation of animal research on CSS for depression.
To acquire eligible studies, two reviewers searched plentiful databases from inception to October 23rd, 2021. Reporting quality assessment and risk of bias assessment of the included animal studies were evaluated by using Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines and the SYstematic Review Centre for Laboratory animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) risk of bias tool, respectively.
The initial search identified 720 records, while only 30 studies were included. The result of the reporting quality assessment was inferior, items 17 and 19 were not reported at all. The details of five items (items 3, 6, 7, 10, and 18) were not reported. The outcome of the risk of bias assessment suggested that half of the entries (5/10) displayed an unclear risk of bias and a high risk of bias. Blinding with regard to performance bias and detection bias revealed an unclear risk of bias (100%), followed by baseline characteristics (76.67%) and sequence generation (60%). Random outcome assessment showed a high risk of bias (100%).
The included animal studies exhibited methodological defects and imprecise reporting. Hence, the ARRIVE guidelines and SYRCLE's RoB tool should be disseminated among basic medical researchers examining CSS for depression to publish studies with low risk of bias and sufficient reporting so that the animal research can promptly be transformed into clinical research.
柴胡疏肝散（CSS）是一种用于治疗抑郁症的中药方剂。我们旨在对CSS治疗抑郁症的动物研究进行报告质量评估和偏倚风险评价。
为获取符合条件的研究，两名 reviewers 检索了从数据库建立到2021年10月23日的大量数据库。纳入的动物研究的报告质量评估和偏倚风险评估分别使用《动物研究：体内实验报告规范》（ARRIVE）指南和实验动物实验系统评价中心（SYRCLE）偏倚风险工具进行评估。
初步检索识别出720条记录，而仅纳入了30项研究。报告质量评估结果较差，第17项和第19项根本未报告。五项（第3、6、7、10和18项）的细节未报告。偏倚风险评估结果表明，一半的条目（5/10）显示出偏倚风险不明确和高偏倚风险。关于实施偏倚和检测偏倚的盲法显示偏倚风险不明确（100%），其次是基线特征（76.67%）和序列产生（60%）。随机结果评估显示高偏倚风险（100%）。
纳入的动物研究存在方法学缺陷和报告不精确的问题。因此，ARRIVE指南和SYRCLE的RoB工具应在研究CSS治疗抑郁症的基础医学研究人员中传播，以发表偏倚风险低且报告充分的研究，以便动物研究能够迅速转化为临床研究。
