Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has mitogenic, motogenic, and morphogenic activities in epithelial cells. Induction of HGF production may be involved in organ regeneration, wound healing and embryogenesis. In this study, we examined the effects of caffeic acid derivatives including 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (1) and acteoside (2) on HGF production in Neonatal Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts (NHDF). Both 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (1) and acteoside (2) significantly induced HGF production dose-dependent manner. To know the important substructure for HGF production activity, we next investigated the effect of the partial structure of these caffeic acid derivatives. From the results, caffeic acid (3) showed strong activity on the promotion of HGF production, while hydroxytyrosol (4) and quinic acid (5) didn't show any activity. Our findings suggest that the caffeoyl moiety of caffeic acid derivatives is essential for accelerated production of HGF. The compound which has the caffeoyl moiety may be useful for the treatment of some intractable organ disease.

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