School of Chinese Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 10 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
Phytother Res. 2013 Sep;27(9):1368-75. doi: 10.1002/ptr.4881. Epub 2012 Nov 12.
Herba Epimedii, an herb commonly used in East Asian medicine, is commonly used for treatment of impotence, osteoporosis and many inflammatory conditions in traditional Chinese medicine. Recent studies revealed that Herba Epimedii also has anti-tumor or anti-cancer activities, which may possibly be mediated through anti-angiogenesis. This study aims to examine and confirm the anti-angiogenic activity in the herb using both in vivo and in vitro approaches. The 95% ethanol extract and four subsequent fractions (n-hexane, ethyl acetate (EA), n-butanol and aqueous fractions) of Herba Epimedii were tested on the zebrafish model by the quantitative assay for endogenous alkaline phosphatase; then, the active fraction was further tested on Tg(fli1a:EGFP)y1 zebrafish embryos and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) for the anti-angiogenic effects. In addition, the action mechanism of Herba Epimedii was further investigated on wild-type zebrafish embryos and HUVECs. The EA fraction showed anti-angiogenic effects in both in vivo and in vitro models. Further experiments demonstrated that it might affect angiogenesis by acting on multiple molecular targets in zebrafish embryos and ERK signaling pathway in HUVECs. In conclusion, Herba Epimedii can inhibit angiogenesis, which may be the mechanism for its anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and anti-cancer actions.
淫羊藿是一种常用于东亚医学的草药，常用于治疗阳痿、骨质疏松症和许多中医炎症。最近的研究表明，淫羊藿还具有抗肿瘤或抗癌活性，这可能是通过抗血管生成来介导的。本研究旨在通过体内和体外方法来检测和证实该草药的抗血管生成活性。用定量碱性磷酸酶测定法检测淫羊藿的 95%乙醇提取物及其随后的四个馏分（正己烷、乙酸乙酯（EA）、正丁醇和水馏分）在斑马鱼模型中的作用；然后，将活性馏分进一步在 Tg(fli1a:EGFP)y1 斑马鱼胚胎和人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVEC）中进行抗血管生成作用测试。此外，还在野生型斑马鱼胚胎和 HUVEC 中进一步研究了淫羊藿的作用机制。EA 馏分在体内和体外模型中均显示出抗血管生成作用。进一步的实验表明，它可能通过作用于斑马鱼胚胎中的多个分子靶点和 HUVEC 中的 ERK 信号通路来影响血管生成。总之，淫羊藿可以抑制血管生成，这可能是其抗炎、抗肿瘤和抗癌作用的机制。
