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DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1074581
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York
Phenols from the Roots of Rheum palmatum Attenuate Chemotaxis in Rat Hepatic Stellate Cells
Publication History
Received: November 29, 2007
Revised: May 5, 2008
Accepted: May 13, 2008
Publication Date:
08 July 2008 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/plantamedica/200810/lookinside/thumbnails/10.1055-s-2008-1074581-1.jpg)
Abstract
In liver injury, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) acquire an activated phenotype, migrate to the injured region in response to chemotactic factors and produce extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins including α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen in order to repair the damage. HSC-T6, a cell line of rat HSCs, was used in in vitro experiments. TGF-β1 was used as a chemoattractant. The expression of α-SMA was used as a marker of activated hepatic stellate cells and cell migration was assayed with the Transwell method to investigate the active principles of the roots of Rheum palmatum L. (Dahuang), a well-known traditional Chinese herb used for treating liver diseases. Under cell activation and chemotaxis-directed fractionation and purification, four anthraquinones, rhein (1), emodin (2), chrysophanol (3) and physcion (4), and four phenylbutanoids, lindleyin (5), isolindleyin (7), 4-(4′-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone 4′-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), and 4-(4′-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone (9), and a stilbene, 3,5,4′-trihydroxystilbene 4′-O-β-D-glucopyranoside 6′-O-gallate (6) were isolated from the active fractions. Among them, compounds 1 and 2 inhibited α-SMA expression. However, compounds 3, 4, 6 and 8 attenuated chemotactic migration, but not α-SMA expression.
Abbreviations
α-SMA:α-smooth muscle actin
CI:chemotaxis index
ECM:extracellular matrix
HSCs:hepatic stellate cells
Rh:ethanolic extract of the roots of Rheum palmatum
TGF:transforming growth factor
Key words
Rheum palmatum - Polygonaceae - TGF-β1 - chemotaxis - phenylbutanones - stilbene
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Yun-Lian Lin, Ph.D
National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine
No.155–1, Li-Nong Street, Sect. 2
Taipei 112
Taiwan
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Phone: +886/2/2820/1999 ext 6531
Email: yllin@nricm.edu.tw