Distention scores (number per 105 s).

<p>Distention scores (number per 105 s).</p

Acceleration of small bowel motility after oral administration of dai-kenchu-to (TJ-100) assessed by cine magnetic resonance imaging

<div><p>Dai-kenchu-to (TJ-100) is an herbal medicine used to shorten the duration of intestinal transit by accelerating intestinal movement. However, intestinal movement in itself has not been evaluated in healthy volunteers using radiography, fluoroscopy, and radioisotopes because of exposure to ionizing radiation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of TJ-100 on intestinal motility using cinematic magnetic resonance imaging (cine MRI) with a steady-state free precession sequence. Ten healthy male volunteers received 5 g of either TJ-100 or lactose without disclosure of the identity of the substance. Each volunteer underwent two MRI examinations after taking the substances (TJ-100 and lactose) on separate days. They drank 1200 mL of tap water and underwent cine MRI after 10 min. A steady-state free precession sequence was used for imaging, which was performed thrice at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 min. The bowel contraction frequency and distention score were assessed. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used, and differences were considered significant at a <i>P</i>-value <0.05. The bowel contraction frequency tended to be greater in the TJ-100 group and was significantly different in the ileum at 20 (TJ-100, 8.95 ± 2.88; lactose, 4.80 ± 2.92; <i>P</i> < 0.05) and 50 min (TJ-100, 9.45 ± 4.49; lactose, 4.45 ± 2.65; <i>P</i> < 0.05) between the groups. No significant differences were observed in the bowel distention scores. Cine MRI demonstrated that TJ-100 activated intestinal motility without dependence on ileum distention.</p></div

Major ingredients in TJ-100.

<p>A: ginsenoside, B: sanshool, C: shogaol.</p

Evaluation of contraction frequency.

<p>The arrow indicates a representative ileum. The intestine is dilated (A), collapsed by contraction (B), and re-dilated (C). This cycle is counted as one contraction. Bowel contraction was judged as half contraction when the dilated intestine collapsed or the collapsed intestine dilated.</p

Examination protocol.

<p>Examination protocol.</p

Contraction frequency (number per 105 s).

<p>Contraction frequency (number per 105 s).</p

Interrelationship between the bowel contraction frequency and distention score.

<p>The points above the line show the relationship between the bowel contraction frequency (vertical axis) and distention score (horizontal axis) in the jejunum and ileum in all phases of respective volunteers. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient shows positive correlations in the jejunum and ileum treated with lactose (A, B) and the ileum treated with TJ-100 (D).</p

Contraction frequency.

<p>Bowel contraction tended to be more frequent in the jejunum in the TJ-100 group, without significance (A). Significant differences (*P < 0.05) are observed at 20 and 50 min in the ileum (B).</p

Distention scores.

<p>The score decreases gradually in both the jejunum (A) and ileum (B).</p

The recognition of HIG2 and HLA-A*02:01-expressing cells by a HIG2-9-4 peptide-specific CTL clone.

<p>(a) A HIG2-9-4 peptide-specific CTL clone was stimulated with COS7 cells expressing both HIG2 and HLA-A*02:01 (close diamond), or either HIG2 alone (open circle) or HLA-A*02:01 alone (open triangle), then the IFN-γ production was examined by ELISA. R/S ratio; responder/stimulator ratio. (b) The cytotoxic activity of the HIG2-9-4 peptide-specific CTL clone was examined against HLA-A*02:01-positive HIG2-expressing A498 cells (closed diamond) or HLA-A*02:01-negative HIG2-expressing Caki-1 cells (open circle). E/T ratio; effector/target ratio. All experiments were performed in triplicate. Representative results from three independent experiments are shown. *; <i>P</i><0.001.</p