Objective To explore the mechanism of the formation of tongue fur of patients with dampness-heat syndrome

by observing the changes between yellow-greasy fur micro-ecosystem and apoptosis index.Method 42 cases of patients with dampness-heat syndrome of yellow-greasy fur served as experimental group

28 cases of healthy subjects served as control group.After cleaning mouths

the tongue fur of all subjects were scraped and the tongue cell apoptosis index and total bacterial count of tongue fur were tested

then the test data from both groups were analysed and compared.Results The tongue epithelial cell apoptosis index in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group

with significant differences among subjects with thick yellow-greasy fur in the experimental group

and those with thin yellow-greasy fur in the experimental group and control group（P<0.05）.The gradation of the index from high to low was normal fur

thin yellow-greasy fur

thick yellow-greasy fur;the total bacterial count of tongue fur in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group

with a significant difference between thick fur experimental group and control group（P<0.01）

the gradation of the count from high to low was thick yellow-greasy fur

thin yellow-greasy fur

normal fur.The correlation analysis between the tongue epithelial cell apoptosis index and the total bacterial count of tongue fur was not significant（P >0.05）.Conclusions The changes of etiopathogenisis

pathogenesis and disease location with dampness-heat syndrome was reflected in the pathological change of tongue fur

which is concerned with the changes of tongue fur micro-ecosystem and tongue epithelial cell apoptosis index

but the correlation between the two indicators hasn’t been confirmed.