Effects of biscoclaurine alkaloid cepharanthine on newborn rat skin epidermal and dermal cells.

Effects of biscoclaurine alkaloid cepharanthine on proliferation of skin cells were examined in vitro. The alkaloid was found to enhance attachment and cell layer formation of newborn rat skin epidermal cells in culture on type I collagen-coated Millipore filter, and to potentiate production of keratins in these cells. Spreading and growth of skin dermal fibroblasts were inhibited by cepharanthine in a dose-dependent manner, but the alkaloid-treated cells still retained the ability to synthesize type IV collagen. In culture of skin cells containing both epidermal and dermal cells, no growth of epidermal cells or over-growth of dermal fibroblasts was observed in medium without cepharanthine. In contrast, the presence of the alkaloid suppressed the growth of fibroblasts and promoted the formation of epidermal cell layers accompanied by production of keratins. Thus, in comparison with the cells untreated with the alkaloid, cepharanthine-treated skin epidermal and dermal cells in vitro expressed in vivo-like characters.