The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 3 types of medicinal herbs (Glycyrrhizae radix, Astragali radix and Dioscorea rhizoma) extracts on estrogen-like activities, proliferation and differentiation in osteoblast. Human breast cancer cell line MCF7 was transfected using an estrogen responsive luciferase reporter plasmid for measure the estrogen-like activity. Estrogen-like activities of extracts were in the range of 1.11~5.73 fold to that of negative control. The extract of G. radix showed the strongest estrogen-like activities. The estrogen-like activities of 50 and 500 μg/ml extracts of G. radix were similar to that of 10 -8 and 10 -7 M standard solution (17β-estradiol), respectively. G. radix extract showed no cytotoxicity against osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells at 1~1,000 μg/ml. The extract of A. radix showed no significant proliferation of osteoblast. However, the extract of G. radix and D. rhizome showed maximum 148% and 133% proliferation effects. The extract of G. radix also increased alkaline phosphatase activity and the maximum was 122% at 100 μg/ml compared to that of control. The nodule formation by the method of the Alizarin red S staining increased compared to control. These results suggest that G. radix is able to perform the bone formation and prevent osteoporosis.Key words : Estrogen-like activity, luciferase, medicinal herbs, menopausal women, osteoblast
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