[Beneficial effect of puerarin on experimental microcirculatory disturbance in mice]

Puerarin is one of the main active principles of Radix Puerarin. In the present paper, the effect of puerarin iv or topical treatment on adrenaline induced mesenteric microcirculatory disturbance in mice was studied and compared with papaverine. The arteriole diameter (D) and blood flow velocity (V) of arterioles were observed and recorded by the vitalvideo microscope and the digit blood flow velocity apparatus, and blood flow (Q) was calculated as Q = pi (D/2)2.V. Results indicate that puerarin applied locally, either before or after the topical treatment with adrenaline on arteriole, impeded the constriction and increased the decreased blood flow at 1,3,5,10, 20 minutes (P less than 0.01). A similar response was observed with papaverine. When puerarin and papaverin were given intravenously to mice at the dosages of 52 and 10 mg/kg respectively, both showed protective effects on the microcirculatory disturbance induced by adrenaline administered locally 5 min later. The effect of puerarin was shown to be more potent than that of papaverine. Since the toxicity of puerarin is very low, puerarin might be superior to papaverine for treatment of microcirculatory disturbance.