[A study on protein metabolism in nephrotic patients treated with Chinese herbs]

It was found in our previous studies that two Chinese herbs Astragali and Angelica (A&A) together with high protein diet could ameliorate the lowering of serum albumin level and increase the synthesis rate of protein as shown by 15N-glicine tracer priming protein turnover study in nephrotic rats. Further experiment was designed to investigate the role of A&A and high protein intake in protein dynamic study and nitrogen balance in nephrotic patients. The level of serum total protein (STP), serum albumin (SA), urinary protein loss (UP), serum cholesterol (Cho) and index number of protein turnover and nitrogen balance in 7 patients were measured before and after treatment of 30 days with A&A. The results showed that after treatment the patients had significantly increased STA and SA (44.3 +/- 5.60 vs 49.7 +/- 6.80 P < 0.01; 22.6 +/- 0.42 vs. 29.4 +/- 7.40 P < 0.05), decreased UP and Cho (6.54 +/- 1.83 vs 4.63 +/- 1.33 P < 0.05; 9.69 +/- 2.31 vs. 7.82 +/- 1.95 P < 0.05) and increased net rates of total protein synthesis (1.06 +/- 0.03 vs 1.27 +/- 0.12 P < 0.05). It is concluded that A&A together with high protein intake could improve the disorder of protein metabolism and increase the level of serum protein by improving the net rate of protein synthesis in nephrotic patients.