菊苣水萃物緩解乾眼症的功效分析

菊苣原產自歐洲，後流傳至中國新疆一帶，作為傳統中藥材已有百年歷史。民間傳聞菊苣具明目之功效，可用於乾眼、結膜炎、白內障等眼疾之療效，但卻始終缺乏科學實證。因此，本研究以紫外線B(UV-B)照射導誘導小鼠乾眼症作為研究模式，並根據先前研究提及菊苣，經由高低溫烘焙之比較作為研究，選用效果較好之低溫烘焙菊苣粉末，以探討餵食低溫烘焙菊苣乾燥粉末(GC)是否能夠緩解乾眼症狀之功效，並進一步對各淚腺做深入探討及有效劑量確定。　　研究方法為將6周齡雌性ICR小鼠隨機分為六組。並偵測眼球表面之平滑度、透明度、並且進行角膜染色及拍照記錄，眼球與各淚腺體進行染色做分析與統計，並將數據量化做成指標以判斷其療效。　　實驗結果顯示菊苣應用於預防乾眼上有一定之功效，有效劑量約落在100 mg/kg至500 mg/kg之間，而以此作為基礎再加上組織切片及染色之數據，可推斷在本研究中，菊苣在緩解乾眼症狀上是有一定的效益，而最為推薦的劑量為500 mg/kg。

Cichorium intybus originated from Europe, and then was spread to Xinjiang in China. It has been used as a traditional Chinese herb medicine for hundreds of years. Folk knowledge holds that Cichorium intybus is protective in eye health, and can be used for mitigation of dry eye, conjunctivitis, and cataract, but without experimental evidence. Therefore, this study applied an UVB-induced dry eye mouse model to investigate its protective effects. Low temperature-incubated dry Cichorium intybus powder (Ci powder) was used to determine its efficacy for dry eye alleviation and its effective dose.Female ICR mice aged 6 weeks were used and randomly divided into 6 study groups. The assessments included ocular surface smoothness and opacity, cornea stain and photography, histopathological analyses on the entire eye ball and related glands.The results indicate that Cichorium intybus　is healful in amelioration dry eye conditions, and the effective dose falls between 100 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg, with the most recommended dose at 500 mg/kg.