ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the effects of different proportions of Astragalus and Angelica on the proliferation ability and cell senescence of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) in the mice model of bone marrow hematopoiesis suppression, and to probe the mechanism of Astragalus-Angelica compatibility on promoting hematopoiesis. Methods: ICR male mice were randomly divided into normal group, model group, positive control group of recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (rhG-CSF), Astragalus group, Angelica group, and different proportion combination groups of Astragalus and Angelica, and the animals in Chinese medicinal herb groups were ig administered, once a day, for 8 d. In the positive control group, rhG-CSF was sc injected on days 6, 7, and 8 of administration. Except for the normal group, the others were received cyclophosphamide (CTX) by ip injection on days 4, 5, and 6 of administration to establish the model of bone marrow hemopoiesis suppression. The mice were killed on day 9 to obtain bone marrow cells for the culture of HPC, and the senescence rate of bone marrow nucleated cell (BMNC) was detected by SA-β-galactosidase staining method. Results: Compared with the model group, Angelica and Astragalus-Angelica with proportions of 5:1, 1:1, and 1:5 could significantly raise colony forming unit-granulocyte (CFU-GM), colony forming unit-megakaryocyte (CFU-MK), colony forming unit-erythroid (CFU-E), and burst forming unit-erythroid (BFU-E) (P < 0.01). Astragalus-Angelica with 10:1 made CFU-MK, CFU-E, BFU-E remarkably increase (P < 0.05, 0.01), and had no effect on CFU-GM. Furthermore, Astragalus-Angelica with 1:1 promoting the formation of HPC was evidently stronger than that of single Astragalus, single Angelica, and other combinations (P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, the senescence positive rate of BMNC was markedly decreased in Astragalus group, Angelica group, and Astragalus-Angelica combination groups (P < 0.01), while being lowest in Astragalus-Angelica with 1:1 proportion (P < 0.05, 0.01). Conclusion: Astragalus, Angelica, Astragalus-Angelica with 10:1, 5:1, 1:1, and 1:5 proportions can prompt the proliferation and differentiation of HPC that bone marrow hematopoiesis is suppressed in mice, inhibit the senescence of bone marrow hematopoietic cell, moreover, the effect of Astragalus-Angelica with 1:1 proportion is the best. It suggests that promoting the proliferation and differentiation of HPC is one of the mechanisms that Astragalus-Angelica prompt hematopoiesis.