Study on function of VEGF pathway in promoting angiogenesis with Xuefu Zhuyu Tang / 中国中药杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the function of VEGF pathway in promoting angiogenesis with Xuefu Zhuyu Tang (XFZYT).</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Serum pharmacology technique was adopted to treat endothelial cells ECV304 with XFZYD containing serum and blank serum with concentrations of 1.25%, 2.5% and 5%. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, boyden chamber migration assay and in vitro vessel formation assay were used to test endothelial cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis capacities. ELISA, immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR were used to detect secretion and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2).</p><p><b>RESULT</b>XFZYT-CS with a concentration of 1.25% only affected angiogenesis capacity in vitro. XFZYT-CS with a concentration of 2. 5% promoted cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis capacities and significantly increased VEGF level and VEGF/VEGFR2 expressions. XFZYT-CS with a concentration of 5% only up-regulated intracellular VEGF expression and thereby improving endothelial cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>XFZYT can induce endothelial cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis by up-regulating VEGF-VEGFR2 pathway, which partially proves its angiogenesis effects.</p>