Hypothesis on the Principle of Danggui-Shao yao-San (DSS) for Treating Different Diseases via the Histamine H1 Receptor Pathway

The principle of “same treatment for different diseases” is the major reflection of treatment determination based on pathogenesis obtained through the differentiation of symptoms and signs in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is of great importance to explore such principles from the viewpoint of TCM prescriptions, so as to propagate and develop TCM theory. Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS), a famous TCM complex prescription first recorded in the book of Jin Kui Yao Lue, has been widely used in the treatment for various diseases in China. Previous reference mining showed that its pathogenesis linked with “liver depression and spleen deficiency,” and there were a lot of similarities between pharmacological activities of DSS and the physiological and pathological function of histamine. This study suggested that DSS significantly inhibited local skin vascular permeability and remarkably decreased the scratching number and time, decreased locomotive activities increased by histamine, and exerted analgesia activities via the H1 receptor. A hypothesis has been proposed that DSS can modulate histamine H1 receptor expression and the relevant signal transduction pathway so as to treat various diseases, while “liver depression and spleen deficiency” would be related to the dysfunction of the histaminergic neuron system, whose regulating center is considered to be the histamine neurons located in the posterior hypothalamus based on a great deal of previous studies, casual findings, and international academic progress. Further investigation is under way to explore the principles or mechanism of DSS for treating different diseases, which may provide some new ideas or methods for the fundamental research of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine. It provides some reference for reasonable and normative application of DSS in the clinic, accumulates new data for enriching scientific connotation of “liver depression and spleen deficiency” and the pathological mechanism of related diseases, and consequently academically enhances the TCM development.