Section of Marine Ecology and Biotechnology, Division of Life Science and Center for Chinese Medicine, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong, China.
J Agric Food Chem. 2011 Mar 9;59(5):1697-704. doi: 10.1021/jf104018u. Epub 2011 Feb 10.
Radix Astragali (RA) is commonly used as a health food supplement to reinforce the body vital energy. Flavonoids, including formononetin, ononin, calycosin, and calycosin-7-O-β-d-glucoside, are considered to be the major active ingredients within RA. Here, we provided different lines of evidence that the RA flavonoids stimulated the expression of erythropoietin (EPO), the central regulator of red blood cell mass, in cultured human embryonic kidney fibroblasts (HEK293T). A plasmid containing hypoxia response element (HRE), a critical regulator for EPO transcription, was tagged upstream of a firefly luciferase gene, namely, pHRE-Luc, which was being transfected into fibroblasts. The application of RA flavonoids onto the transfected cells induced the transcriptional activity of HRE. To account for the transcriptional activation after the treatment of flavonoids, the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) was markedly increased: The increase was in both mRNA and protein levels. In addition, the degradation of HIF-1α was reduced under the effect of flavonoids. The regulation of HIF-1α therefore could account for the activation of EPO expression mediated by the RA flavonoids. The current results therefore reveal the function of this herb in enhancing hematopoietic functions.
黄芪(RA)通常被用作一种保健品,以增强身体的生命力。黄酮类化合物,包括芒柄花素、大豆苷、毛蕊异黄酮和毛蕊异黄酮-7-O-β-葡萄糖苷,被认为是 RA 中的主要活性成分。在这里,我们提供了不同的证据表明,RA 黄酮类化合物刺激了红细胞生成素(EPO)的表达,EPO 是红细胞质量的中枢调节剂,在培养的人胚肾成纤维细胞(HEK293T)中。一个含有缺氧反应元件(HRE)的质粒,EPO 转录的关键调节剂,被标记在萤火虫荧光素酶基因的上游,即 pHRE-Luc,它被转染到成纤维细胞中。RA 黄酮类化合物的应用诱导了 HRE 的转录活性。为了说明黄酮类化合物处理后的转录激活,缺氧诱导因子-1α(HIF-1α)的表达明显增加:mRNA 和蛋白质水平都增加了。此外,黄酮类化合物的作用降低了 HIF-1α 的降解。因此,HIF-1α 的调节可以解释 RA 黄酮类化合物介导的 EPO 表达的激活。因此,目前的结果揭示了这种草药在增强造血功能方面的作用。