Effect of Danggui Buxuetang on Functional Activity of Endothelial Progenitor Cells Exposed to Shear Stress / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the effect of Danggui Buxuetang（DGBX）on the functional activity of rat endothelial progenitor cells（EPCs）exposed to different luminar shear stress （SS）. Method:EPCs isolated from rat bone marrow were incubated on a parallel plate flow chamber at a steady SS of 0， 0.12， 1.2， 2.4 Pa for 6 h，then the cells exposed to different SS were randomly divided into 8 groups： control group （perfused with serum free medium），simvastatin group（0.1 μmol·L^-1simvastatin），3 DGBX groups（low，medium，high-dose DGBX）and 3 inhibitor groups（3 DGBX groups with LY294002）. After 12 h，the samples were collected for the detection of cell proliferation ，migration，tubule formation ，the secretion of nitric oxide （NO） ，and the expressions of endothelial nitric oxide synthase（eNOS） mRNA and protein kinase B（Akt），respectively. Result:Compared with the control group，simvastatin and DGBX（high-dose）could both promote the functional activities and NO secretion，and up-regulate the expressions of eNOS mRNA and Akt protein in EPCs exposed to different SS（<italic>P</italic><0.05），while DGBX（mid-dose）could do these only at 0 Pa. However，LY294002 could inhibit all effects of DGBX on EPCs. Conclusion:SS seems to play an important role in the effect of DGBX on EPCs，and DGBX could promote the functional activity of EPCs exposed to SS by up-regulating the expressions of NO/eNOS/Akt.