A Chinese Herbal Decoction Prepared from Radix Astragali and Radix Angelicae Sinensis Induces the Expression of Erythropoietin in Cultured Hep3B Cells

Abstract

Danggui Buxue Tang (DBT), a Chinese medicinal decoction used commonly for treating women's ailments, contains Radix Astragali (RA) and Radix Angelicae Sinensis (RAS). According to Chinese medicinal theory, this decoction is to nourish the blood function; this, however, has not been demonstrated on the molecular level. In order to reveal the hematopoietic effect of this decoction, DBT was applied to cultured Hep3B human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The treatment of DBT induced mRNA expression of erythropoietin (EPO) in a dose-dependent manner and peaked at approximately 2.5-fold induction. The secreted EPO in cultured Hep3B cells was quantified by ELISA: the treatment of DBT potentiated the effect of hypoxia-induced EPO expression in the cultured cells. In addition, the DBT-induced EPO expression could be abolished by pre-treatment with U0126, a mitogen-activated kinase inhibitor. The current results verified the hematopoietic function of this ancient herbal decoction.

The expression of erythropoietin triggered by Danggui Buxue Tang, a Chinese herbal decoction prepared from Radix Astragali and Radix Angelicae Sinensis, is mediated by the hypoxia-inducible factor in cultured HEK293T cells

“…From our previous studies, we have shown that the application of DBT could regulate EPO mRNA expression, as well as the secretion of EPO protein, in cultured hepatocytes (Gao et al, 2008). Here, we provide additional evidence to explain this DBT-induced EPO expression in kidney cells.…”

“…1A), suggesting the validity of this model. To reveal the trophic effect of DBT, a standardized herbal extract of DBT, or RA alone, or RAS alone, was used: the preparation and quality control of this decoction were given previously Gao et al, 2008;Choi et al, 2009). In cultured HEK293T cells, DBT, RA alone, RAS alone, or RA + RAS (just boiling RA and RAS separately and then mixing the extracts together) was applied onto the cultures for 2 days.…”

“…In cultured Hep3B cells, the hypoxia-induced EPO mRNA expression was potentiated by the pre-treatment of DBT (Gao et al, 2008), which might be employed as a remedy to increase the EPO mRNA expression before exposing the hypoxic condition. Based on this rationale, the same potentiation effect of DBT was also revealed in HEK293T cells.…”

“…The expression of EPO mRNA and secretion of EPO protein could be enhanced by DBT in liver cells via Raf/MEK/ERK, which belongs to the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades (Gao et al, 2008); however, whether this regulatory pathway would be occurred in kidney cell has not been determined yet. More importantly, the participation of HIF in DBT-induced EPO expression is never been investigated.…”

Effects of <i>Astragalus</i> Combined with <i>Angelica</i> on Bone Marrow Hematopoiesis Suppression Induced by Cyclophosphamide in Mice

“…HGF can stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of HSCs in different differentiation periods and different types, the hematopoiesis process is concluded by the hematopoietic cells under the regulation of multiple HGF, 25) and DBT can up-regulate the expression of EPO in Hep3B cells in vitro. 26) Following the transfection of fibroblast kidney cells (HEK293T) with a plasmid containing a hypoxia response element (HRE), DBT triggers the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and EPO, which is relevant to the signaling pathway of mitogen-activated protein kinases. 27) Our research also noted that Astragalus alone slightly up-regulated the level of EPO but did not have a distinct effect on GM-CSF or TPO; GM-CSF, TPO and EPO were not affected by Angelica alone.…”