A Kampo formulation: Byakko-ka-ninjin-to (Bai-Hu-Jia-Ren-Sheng-Tang) inhibits IgE-mediated triphasic skin reaction in mice: The role of its constituents in expression of the efficacy

We have demonstrated that oral administration of a Kampo formulation, Byakk o-ka-ninjin-to (Bai-Hu-Jia-Ren-Sheng-Tang), inhibited IgE-mediated triphasi c skin reaction, including immediate phase response (IPR), late phase respo nse (LPR) and very late phase response (vLPR), in passively sensitized mice with anti-DNP IgE antibody: Variant formulations of Byakko-ka-ninjin-to wi thout Gypsum Fibrosum (Sekko), Glycyrrhizae Radix (Kanzo) or Oryzae Semen ( Kobei) attenuated the inhibitory effect as compared with that of Byakko-ka- ninjin-to. The decreased effect of Byakko-ka-ninjin-to without Kanzo was re stored by the addition of Kanzo to the variant formulations before oral adm inistration, while the decreased effect of Byakko-ka-ninjin-to without Sekk o could not be recovered by the addition of Sekko, Comparison of HPLC profi les of variant formulations without one crude drug with that of original By akko-ka-ninjin-to revealed that some peaks could be detected only when five constituent crude drugs were simultaneously present during the preparation of Byakko-ka-ninjin-to formulation. Since elimination of Sekko from the By akko-ka-ninjin-to constituents attenuated the efficacy although it did not show any activity per se, mutual interaction of Sekko with other constituen ts during the preparation may result in the production of new components, T hese findings suggest that the effect of Byakko-ka-ninjin-to formulation on cutaneous inflammatory disease can differ from the sum of the effect of th e individual constituents.