THE ANTIINFLAMMATORY AND ANTI-HYPERURICEMIC EFFECTS OF CHINESE HERBAL FORMULA DANGGUI-NIAN-TONG-TANG ON ACUTE GOUTY-ARTHRITIS - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY WITH INDOMETHACIN AND ALLOPURINOL

The traditional Chinese antirheumatic herb Danggui-Nian-Tong-Tang (DGNTT) was studied comparatively with indomethacin and allopurinol to evaluate its anti-inflammatory and antihyperuricemic effects in patients with gout. Results in this study did not show any significant improvement in reducing the total number of painful and swollen joints, articular index and pain score (P>0.05) by treatment with DGNTT. Unlike allopurinol, DGNTT did not lower the high serum level of uric acid. In vitro study in rats showed that DGNTT significantly inhibits the activity of P-glucuronidase (P<0.05) and lysozyme release (P<0.01) from neutrophils. In conclusion, despite the effect of inhibition on enzyme release from neutrophils, DGNTT is not effective in treating acute arthritis or hyperuricemia.