Cell-Based Biological Markers for Blood-Enriching Chinese Herbs: Erythropoietin Production in HepG2 Cells and Nitric Oxide Release in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs)
Chinese tonifying herbs,
which are classified into four functional categories (namely, Yang, Qi, Yin,
Blood) are commonly used for restoring normal body function and the prevention
of diseases. To explore cell-based biological markers for Blood-enriching Chinese
herbs, we investigate the effect of 11 commonly used Blood-enriching herbs on
erythropoietin (EPO) production in HepG2 cells. Herbs for nourishing Yin were
tested for determining the specificity of Blood-enriching herbs in inducing EPO
production. In addition, the effects of Blood-enriching herbs on nitric oxide
(NO) production in both HepG2 cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells
(HUVECs) were also investigated. The
results indicated that methanolic extracts of Blood-enriching herbs (but
not Yin-nourishing herbs) showed characteristic pharmacological activity in
inducing EPO production in HepG2 cells and NO release in HUVECs. The
experimental findings, therefore, support the use of cell-based EPO production
and NO release as biological markers for Blood-enriching Chinese tonifying
herbs.
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