Compound Danshen Dripping Pill Promotes Adaptation to Acute High-Altitude Exposure

Li, Zongbin, Jun Guo, Chunwei Liu, Yajun Shi, Yang Li, Jinli Wang, Dandan Li, Jing Wang, and Yundai Chen. Compound Danshen Dripping Pill promotes adaptation to acute high-altitude exposure. High Alt Med Biol. 21:258-264, 2020. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the traditional Chinese medicine, Compound Danshen Dripping Pill (CDDP), can prevent acute mountain sickness (AMS). We allocated CDDP and matching placebos to 160 volunteers before they ascended to a high altitude. Treadmill exercise tests, echocardiography, blood routine examinations, biochemical analysis, and blood gas analysis were performed upon arrival at high altitude. The primary outcome included incidence of AMS, exercise times, and metabolic equivalents (METs) of treadmill exercise tests. Second endpoints included the heart rates and rate-pressure product (RPP) before and after treadmill exercise tests. After high-altitude exposure, the incidence of AMS in the CDDP group was lower than that in the placebo group (48.6% vs. 67.6%, p = 0.022). The exercise time of the treadmill exercise test was significantly longer (507 ± 77.9 seconds vs. 457 ± 90.8 seconds, p = 0.004), the heart rate was lower (pre-exercise: 91.8 ± 11.7 beats/min vs. 97.2 ± 12.7 beats/min, p = 0.016; postexercise: 114 ± 22.2 beats/min vs. 121 ± 22.6 beats/min, p = 0.019), the pre-exercise and postexercise RPP were lower (pre-exercise: 1.13 × 10⁴ ± 1.68 × 10³ mmHg·beats/min vs. 1.23 × 10⁴ ± 1.84 × 10³ mmHg·beats/min, p = 0.027; postexercise: 1.19 × 10⁴ ± 1.75 × 10³ mmHg·beats/min vs. 1.31 × 10⁴ ± 2.00 × 10³ mmHg·beats/min, p = 0.002), and the MET value of the treadmill exercise test was significantly higher (9.93 ± 1.18 METs vs. 9.31 ± 1.52 METs, p = 0.037) in the CDDP group. CDDP decreases the incidence of AMS and enhances exercise tolerance greater than placebo after high-altitude exposure. CDDP decreases the heart rate and myocardial oxygen consumption, increases the levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit, and antioxidant factors, and decreases the levels of inflammatory factors, which may explain the roles of CDDP in improving the adaptation to high-altitude exposure.