Study on mechanism of artesunate against endotoxemia of heat stroke

  Objective   To investigate the mechanism that artesunate against endotoxemia of heat stroke and provide experimental evidence for application of this kind of medicine in the treatment of heat stroke.

  Methods   Establishing the heat stroke model under circum stances of dry bulb temperature(341.5±0.5)℃ and(60±5)% relative humidity, 32 mice were randomly divide into four groups including artesnate group, heat stroke group, shengliyanshui group and normal group.tumor necrosis factor(TNF-a)of blood using reagent case and TL R4 mRNA ofperitoneal macrophage using RT-PCR in mice wee observed.

  Results   The quantity of TNF-a and the expression of TL R4 mRNA of artesunate group were lower significantly (P < 0.05)than those of heat stroke group and shengliyanshui group but similar to normal group.

  Conclusion   One of the most important mechanism that artesunate against endotoxemia of heat stroke is decrease the quantity of TNF-a by downing regulation the expression of TLR4, which is the essential factor of lipopolysaccharide(LPS)signal transduction pathway.