[Effects of different doses of puerarin on vascular endothelial cell proliferation in vitro].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of different doses of puerarin on proliferation of cultured vascular endothelial cells in vitro. METHODS: The hearts of three new-born SD rats 5 days old were mechanically minced and enzymatically digested with collagenase and trypsin, then vascular endothelial cells were counted, washed and resuspended in Dulbecco's minimum essential medium (DMEM) added with 20% heat inactivated fetal calf serum, then inoculated in 2% gelatin-coated tissue culture flasks. Vascular endothelial cells at passage 3 were used in the experiment. Except for the normal control group, the vascular endothelial cells were cultured with puerarin in various concentrations (0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 micromol/L) for 24 hours, and the morphology and the number of the cultured endothelial cells were observed. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) colorimetry was used to determine the proliferation of the cultured vascular endothelial cells. Flow cytometry (FCM) were used to detect the proliferation index (PI) of the vascular endothelial cells and the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was detected by immunohistochemical method. RESULTS: The cell morphology was normal under the inverted microscope in each group. The number and proliferation activities of vascular endothelial cells were significantly increased by 1, 10 and 100 micromol/L puerarin compared with those of the blank control group, especially the 100 micromol/L puerarin group, and there were no remarkable changes in with 0.1 micromol/L and 0.01 micromol/L puerarin groups. The same results were seen in the positive rate of PCNA expression and PI. CONCLUSION: Puerarin has dose-dependent effects on the proliferation activity of vascular endothelial cells.

[Clinical observation on effects of qianggu capsules in treating radius distal osteoporotic fractures].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of qianggu capsules (QGC) on the fracture healing and the bone mineral density (BMD) in radius distal osteoporosis fracture (RDOF) patients. METHODS: Bone mineral density (BMD) of femoral neck in 65 patients with RDOF was detected after the fracture was fixed manually. They were then randomly divided into two groups. Thirty-three patients in the treated group took QC, 1 capsule (180 mg) each time, three times a day, while 32 patients in the control group took D-Cal Biocal 2 tablets (1500 mg) each time, once daily. The therapeutic course for both groups was three months. X-ray examination on the broken end of the fractured bone was taken every month to observe the bony callus formation for comparing the curative effect, and BMD of femoral neck were detected again after patients were treated for 3 months. The bony callus appeared earlier, more in volume with thicker cortex in the treated group after 2 months of treatment versus that in the control group. The fracture healing time in the treated group was 9.4 +/- 2.5 weeks and that in the control group was 12.5 +/- 2.9 weeks, showing significant difference between them (P < 0.05). BMD in the treated group before treatment was 0.621 +/- 0.085 g/cm2, which was lower than that after treatment (0.646 +/- 0.090 g/cm2) with significant difference showing between them (P < 0.05), while no significant change of BMD was found in the control group between before and after treatment, and significant difference was found in BMD between the two groups after treatment (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: QGC can promote the formation of bony callus ahead of time, increase the volume of bony callus and BMD, improve the bone structure, and thus the time of external fixation in treating RDOF could be reduced.