OBJECTIVETo study the effects of extracts from Panax notoginseng (EPN) and Panax ginseng fruit (EPGF) on the proliferation and migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro.

METHODSCell proliferation was determined using an MTT method with a cultured HUVECs model cell cycle analyzed by cytometry. The effect on endothelial cell migration was investigated using an agarose scraping method. The content of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the supernate was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The VEGF mRNA expression of vascular endothelial cells (VECs) with different concentrations of EPN and EPGF was examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTSEPN and EPGF can promote the proliferation of VECs and the secretion of VEGF from HUVECs. It can increase the cell population significantly in the S phase to (15.22+/-1.33) % in the 50 mg/L dose group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). They can promote the VEC migration in the 200 mg/L dose group and the migration rate was 93.75% (P<0.01). They could also increase VEGF mRNA expression in VEC and the effects in the 100 mg/L and 50 mg/L dose groups were significant with the proportion of VEGF mRNA expression of 0.1812+/-0.0413 and 0.2037+/-0.0399 respectively (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSEPN and EPGF can promote VEC proliferation, migration, DNA synthesis and VEGF mRNA expression. The results suggest that they have a certain effect on the genesis and development of new vessels in the ischemic myocardium.