ABSTRACT
@#【Objective】To observe whether berberine can inhibit vascular smooth muscle cells（VSMC）proliferation induced by mechanical strength stress and to investigate the role of MAPK pathway in it.【Methods】The cultured VSMC were divided into 4 groups：negative control group（NC group），stretch stress group（SS group），berberine pretreated and stretch stress stimulation group（BBR+SS group），and berberine group. In NC group，phosphate buffer saline was used as a negative control；in SS group，stretch stress was given to VSMC；in BBR+SS group，VSMC were pretreated with berberine for 1 hour and then exposed to stretch stress；in BBR group，VSMC were treated only with berberine for 1 hour and cultured in serum- free DMEM afterwards. We collected VSMC in each group ，detected and analyzed their MAPK phosphorylation，proliferation and migration by using Western blotting，immunofluorescence and wound-healing assay respectively. 【Results】 Compare with NC group，stretch stress markedly induced VSMC proliferation and migration ，which could be inhibited significantly by berberine. Stretch stress obviously increased phosphorylation of MAPK （ERK，JNK，p38），which could be inhibited by berberine in a concentration dependent manner. 【Conclusion】 Berberine inhibits hypertension-induced proliferation and migration of VSMC through MAPK pathway. The results revealed the new use and mechanism of berberine，and provided important data for further study on the prevention and treatment of vascular remodeling caused by abnormal increase of mechanical stress in hypertension.