Objective
Korean herbal medicine has been used to treat common cold for a long time. Especially, Galgeun-tang, Mahuang-tang, Gyeji-tang, Samso-eum and Gumiganghwal-tang are the prescriptions of oriental herbal medicine, which have been frequently used to treat common cold symptoms such as fever, chill, myalgia, runny nose and cough. In this study, we investigated anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-pyretic and anti-histamine activities for evaluate the efficacy on the common cold targeting 20 kinds of herbal medicines based on above prescriptions.

Methods
For all experiments, 20 kinds of herbal medicines were extracted with 80 % ethanol and freeze-dried, respectively. To measure anti-oxidative activity, we tested DPPH free radical scavenging activity and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity. To measure anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities, we investigated acetic acid induced vascular permeability and writhing test in ICR mice. Also, for anti-pyretic activities, LPS induced pyrexia study was conducted in rabbits. To evaluate anti-histamine activity, we examined compound 48/80 induced systemic anaphylaxis in ICR mice and the release of β-hexosaminidase on rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells.

Results
Ephedrae Herba, Forsythiae Fructus, Cinnamomi Ramulus and Cimicifugae Rhizome showed potent free radical scavenging activities (IC50<0.05mg/ml). Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix inhibited acetic acid induced vascular permeability by 33.7%. Schizonepetae Spica and Cimicifugae Rhizome inhibited acetic acid induced writhing by 30.0%. Cinnamomi Ramulus and Angelicae Decursivae Radix inhibited LPS induced pyrexia by more than 40%. Angeliace Dahuricae Radix and Asari Radix inhibited compound 48/80 induced mortality by 30.0%. Scutellariae Radix, Cinnamomi Ramulus, Ephedrae Herba and Zingiberis Rhizoma Crudus potently inhibited release of β-hexosaminidase (IC50<0.20mg/ml).

Conclusions
We examined anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-pyretic and anti-histamine activities with 20 kinds of herbal medicines, and several herbal medicines such as Codonopsis Pilosulae Radix, Zingiberis Rhizoma Crudus, Cinnamomi Ramulus, etc. showed novel efficacy. These results suggest that some of herbal medicines are very effective to treat common cold and the prescription composed of these herbal medicines may be more beneficial in the treatment of common cold.