The evaluation of therapeutic efficacy of hachimi-jio-gan (traditional Chinese medicine) to mouse hereditary cataract.

This study was of a series of the evaluation of Hachimi-Jio-Gan (Rehmannia Eight Formula, pa-wei-ti-huang-wan or Bawei dihuang wan) to the various cataracts. In this study, the drug was evaluated for its therapeutic efficacy to mouse hereditary cataract from the delay effect of cataract appearance age and the suppression rates of variation of some biochemical parameters. The dose of 200 mg of Hachimi-Jio-Gan/day/100 g of mouse body weight significantly delayed the cataract appearance age by 4 days as compared to that of non-treated group. We estimated that the delay effect of 4 days in mouse may be corresponded to 13.9 years, when it was converted into the case of human. This drug also suppressed variation of sodium and potassium ions level in the lens with cataractogenesis. Furthermore, the drug dramatically reactivated the sodium-potassium ATPase activity damaged with the cataract formation, and also had a slight action of reducing agent. From these facts, we presumed that the drug may have a prophylactic efficacy to the cataract caused by the inhibition of sodium-potassium ATPase activity and also the oxidation of lens protein.