The traditional Chinese medicine Buyang Huanwu Decoction has been shown to improve the neurological function of patients with stroke. Baiyan Liu from Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China showed that Buyang Huanwu Decoction significantly increased the number of cells positive for 5-bromodeoxyuridine, a cell proliferation-related marker, microtubule-associated protein-2, a marker of neuronal differentiation, and growth-associated protein 43, a marker of synaptic plasticity in the ischemic rat cerebral regions.
The number of positive cells peaked at 14 and 28 days after intragastric administration of Buyang Huanwu Decoction. These findings, published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 25, 2013), suggest that Buyang Huanwu Decoction can promote the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells and enhance synaptic plasticity in ischemic rat brain tissue.
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