Abstract: Objective To observe the immunohistochemical expression of interleukin-10(IL-10), transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β) in brain and spinal cord tissue, and explore the mechanism of nourishing kidney-Yin（Zuo Gui Wan） and invigorating kidney-Yang（You Gui Wan）in rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis(EAE). Methods Lewis rats were immunized with the myelin basic protein(MBP). Totally 120 Rats were randomly divided into Normal-group, EAE-group, prednisone-group, Zuo Gui Wan group and You Gui Wan group after immunization with 24 rats in each. Rats in normal-group and EAE-group were given normal saline by gastric gavage, 3 mL/d; rats in prednisone-group were treated with suspension of prednisone after clinical signs developed, 5 mg/(kg·d^-1); rats in Zuo Gui Wan group were treated with suspension of Zuo Gui Wan, 2 g/(kg·d^-1), and rats in You Gui Wan group were treated with suspension of You Gui Wan, 3 g/(kg·d^-1). On days 15 and 27 post immune, the rats were sacrificed and the immunohistochemical staining was performed on the sections of brain and spinal cord. Results On day 15 post immune, the expression of IL-10 in brain tissue of Zuo Gui Wan group and You Gui Wan group were significantly higher(P<0.01) than that in EAE-group. The expression of IL-10 in spinal cord tissue of ZuoGuiWan group was significantly higher than that in EAE-group(P<0.05). The expression of TGF-β in brain tissue of You Gui Wan group and prednisone-group were significantly higher(P<0.05) than that in EAE-group. The expression of TGF-β in spinal cord tissue of You Gui Wan group was significantly higher than that in EAE-group(P<0.05). On day 27 post immune, expression of IL-10 in spinal cord tissue of prednisone-group, Zuo Gui Wan group and You Gui Wan group was significantly higher(P<0.01) than EAE-group. The expression of TGF-β in spinal cord tissue of Zuo Gui Wan group was significantly higher than that in EAE-group and prednisone-group(P<0.05). Expression of IL-10 in spinal cord tissue of EAE-group, prednisone-group, Zuo Gui Wan group and You Gui Wan group was significantly higher(P<0.05) than that on day 15 post immune, the expression of TGF-β in spinal cord tissue of Zuo Gui Wan group was higher than that on day 15 post immune(P<0.05). Conclusion Both Zuo Gui Wan and You Gui Wan have the effect of upregulating the immunohistochemical expression of IL-10 and TGF-β in central nervous system of EAE rats, promoting the recovery from the disease, their effects are better than those of prednisone. But You Gui Wan could only promote the expression of TGF-β in both brain and spinal cord tissue in acute stage(15 d) of EAE rats, and Zuo Gui Wan could promote the expression of TGF-β in spinal cord tissue in recovering stage(27 d).

Key words: autoimmune diseases, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, cytokines, traditional Chinese medicine, Zuo Gui Wan, You Gui Wan