Effects of Panax notoginseng saponins on proliferation and differentiation in NIH3T3 cells / 中国结合医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) on the proliferation and differentiation in NIH3T3 cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>NIH3T3 cells were treated by various concentrations of PNS 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, and 0.40 g/L. The vitality and proliferation potential of cells were detected by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured by p-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP) assay, and the mineralization formation ability was tested for the cellular differentiation toward osteoblast, as well as the expression level of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2(P-ERK1/2), extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2) protein kinase was analyzed by Western blot with total cell lysate of NIH3T3 cells treated by PNS.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Both MTT and pNPP assay showed that optical density (OD) values were increased in response to PNS treatment at a dose-dependent pattern. The mineralization formation ability was enhanced in PNS-treated NIH3T3 cells compared with untreated cells. Meanwhile, the expression level of P-ERK1/2 protein kinase was up-regulated in PNS-treated NIH3T3 cells, while, the expression level of ERK1/2 protein kinase revealed no obvious difference with or without PNS treated cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PNS could pay a role to promote the proliferation and differentiation in NIH3T3 cells by means of up-regulation of P-ERK1/2 protein kinase.</p>