The long-term objective of this STTR application is to focus on the development of herbal suppressors for alcohol intake. Our preliminary study of a Chinese herbal medicine called XJL (NPI-028) indicated that NPI-028 could significantly improve the motor impairment of rats intoxicated with alcohol. In addition, a significant suppression (-50%) of alcohol intake was observed in a free-choice alcohol intake study with alcohol-preferring rats. Since the efficacy and safety of NPI-028 has been established empirically over thousands of years in China, this greatly enhances the possibility of its future development into a therapeutic agent with clinical significance and commercial value. The objective of this phase I STTR program is to focus on the identification and evaluation of herbal components in two selected Chinese herbs. Fractionation of the herbal components will be conducted at the Natural Pharmacia International with a powerful high speed countercurrent chromatography system, and their effects on free-choice alcohol intake will be performed at the Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina, employing alcohol preferring rats and monkeys. The funding of this program will provide an opportunity to establish scientific justification for the second phase of the STTR program.
| Overstreet, D H; Lee, Y W; Rezvani, A H et al. (1996) Suppression of alcohol intake after administration of the Chinese herbal medicine, NPI-028, and its derivatives. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 20:221-7 |
