Abstract
It has been widely said in Korea that early administrations of Cervi cornu parvum (deer antler) to febrile infants affect brain functions. Traditional Oriental Medicine states that the head is easily affected by fever and only an excess of heat causes headaches. Traditional Oriental Medicine also states that Cervi cornu parvum cannot be used in febrile conditions. With the aim of investigating different febrile response to LPS, experiments using intravenous injection of LPS have been carried out on Cervi comu parvum(CCP) and Soahbohyul - tang combined with Cervi comu parvum(SB-CCP) administered rabbits. Experiments were also conducted to evaluate the effects of early administration of CCP on learning and memory in 3 week old rats with LPS fever. These were evaluated by using the Morris water maze and the radial arm maze. Changes in body weight were also observed during this period. The results of these experiments are as follows. 1. In the experiments with febrile rabbits, the CCP and SB-CCP administered group showed statistically significant reductions of fever (p<0.05). 2. In the experiments with febrile rabbits, CCP and SB-CCP administered rabbits resulted in the tendency of lower body temperatures and shorter fever periods than the control group. 3. There were no differences of mean body weight and fever patterns among the 4 groups in the experiments on young rats with LPS fever. 4. There was no statistical difference of mean response latencies among the rats in Group I (DDW administered), GroupIII (CCP administered), and groupIV (SB-CCP administered) in the Morris water maze. However, Group Ⅱ (the scopolamine administered group) showed delayed latencies on the second day of the first session (p<0.05), and the second and third day of the second session (p< 0.05). 5. There were no statistical differences of mean response latencies among the rats in Group I, III and Ⅳ in the radial arm maze, but Group Ⅱ showed delayed latencies on the first and third day of the first session (p<0.05). 6. There was no influence from the administration of CCP and SB-CCP on the general behavior of the rats in Irwin´s test. These results suggest that Cervi cornu parvum and Soahbohyul - tang combined with Cervi comu parvum have anti-pyretic actions on LPS fever. The results also suggest that these drugs have no influence on learning and memory in young rats with LPS fever in the Morris water maze and the radial arm maze.