ABSTRACT
Badiranji Buya Keli (BBK) is a traditional Uyghur medicine derived from Dracocephalum Moldavica Herba (DMH, the aerial part of Dracocephalum moldavica L.). BBK has been widely used in treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Here, the quality control of BBK was established by using HPLC analysis of rosmarinic acid and tilianin. After chemical standardization, the biological effects of BBK was tested. First, BBK inhibited platelet aggregation of rabbit plasma. Second, BBK induced vasodilation in rat aortic ring, and this effect was partially mediated by nitric oxide (NO) production in endothelial cells. Third, BBK induced NO production in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). In HUVECs, the phosphorylation of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) was markedly increased after application of BBK. Pre-treatment with the eNOS blocker N(ω) -nitro-l-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride could abolish BBK-induced NO production and eNOS phosphorylation. Taken together, these results suggest that BBK could exert beneficial effects in cardiovascular system, which may provide parts of molecular explanation to account for its traditional usage in Uyghur medicine.
Subject(s)
Aorta/drug effects , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology , Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells/drug effects , Lamiaceae/chemistry , Vasodilation/drug effects , Animals , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Humans , Male , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester/chemistry , Nitric Oxide/biosynthesis , Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III/metabolism , Phosphorylation/drug effects , Plant Components, Aerial/chemistry , Platelet Aggregation/drug effects , Quality Control , Rabbits , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Signal Transduction/drug effectsABSTRACT
A zebrafish spleen cell line, ZSSJ, was developed and its growth arrest by gamma radiation determined and its capacity to stimulate the proliferation of the zebrafish blastula cell line, ZEB2J, measured. ZSSJ was initiated by explant outgrowth, grew adherent with mainly an epithelial-like morphology, and stained strongly for alkaline phosphatase. ZSSJ was not only grown in L-15 with 15% fetal bovine serum at 26 degrees C to 28 degrees degrees C but also grew at room temperature. Cultures of ZSSJ have undergone approximately 40 population doublings, had few cells staining for b-galactosidase activity, which is commonly present in senescent cultures, and many cells with an aneuploid karyotype, which is frequently associated with immortalization. ZSSJ growth was arrested by 30 to 50 Gy of g-irradiation, whereas after 20 Gy, some slight growth was observed. By contrast, growth of the rainbow trout spleen stromal cell line, RTS34st, which has been used as a feeder for zebrafish ES cell cultures, was arrested completely by 20 Gy. In cocultures, nongrowth-arrested ZSSJ stimulated ZEB2J proliferation better than growth-arrested ZSSJ and better than RTS34st. ZSSJ should be useful as a feeder cell line for zebrafish ES cell cultures.