ORIGINAL ARTICLES Department of Pharmacognosy1, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China; School of Biomo- lecular Science2, Faculty of Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK Estrogen-like activities in Vitex species from China determined by a cell based proliferation assay Y. Hu1, Q.-Y. Zhang1, T.-T. Hou1, H.-L. Xin1, H.-C. Zheng1, K. Rahman2, L.-P. Qin1 Received February 14, 2007, accepted March 29, 2007 Prof. Lu-Ping Qin, Departement of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical Uni- versity, 325 Guohe Road, Shanghai 200433, China
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[email protected] Pharmazie 62: 872–875 (2007) doi: 10.1691/ph.2007.11.7542 Ethanolic extracts of four Chinese medicinally used Vitex species were selected and tested for their estrogen-like activities, using an ERa-positive MCF-7 cell based proliferation assay (E-screen assay) and cell cycle analysis (flow cytometry). Vitex negundo displayed the highest estrogenic-like activity, and could be useful in hormone replacement therapy (HRT). 1. Introduction 2. Investigations, result and discussion Phytoestrogens are plant-derived compounds with estro- In the E-Screen assay using MCF-7 cells, the proliferative genic or antiestrogenic properties (Umland et al. 2000). effect of the extracts relative to that of estradiol (1 nM, They seem to be interesting by their possible use as al- 100%) is expressed as Relative Proliferative Effect (RPE) ternative medicines for treating hormonal disorders such (Fig. 1). The results clearly indicate that the extracts from as in hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Thus, phy- V. rotundifolia and V. negundo were able to significantly toestrogens could be beneficial in treatment of the symp- stimulate MCF-7 cell proliferation at concentrations of toms of menopause and hence help to prevent bone re- 50 mg/mL to100 mg/mL (P < 0.01).