Inhibitory effect of meth-feruIic acid on proIiferation and activation of TGF-β1 -induced human hepatic steIIate ceIIs

XIONG Meili; LI Yongwen; LI Li; YANG Chengfang; ZHONG Yujuan

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2016.25.001

Abstract：Objective To investigate inhibitory effect of meth-ferulic acid (MFA)on proliferation and activation of trans-forming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1 )-induced human hepatic stellate cells (HSC-LX-2).Methods HSC-LX-2 were cultured in vitro as the contol group and using 1 μg/L TGF-β1 to stimulate HSC-LX-2 as the model group.Meanwhile ,the drug intervention group contained 1 μg/L TGF-β1 and 0.312 5,0.625,1.25,2.5,5,10,20 and 40 mg/L MFA.MTT assay was used to evaluate the effect of MFA on the proliferation of HSC-LX-2 in the model group and the drug intervention group,then the we chose the suitable concentrations of MFA into the low-dose,medium-dose and high-dose groups (1.25,2.5 and 5.0 mg/L).After 72 h in-cubation,the mRNA expression of α-SMA and PCⅠin the above five groups was determined by RT-PCR,the protein expression ofα-SMA was determined by Western blotting,and the protein expression of PCⅠin each group was determined by ELISA.Results With the increasing MFA concentration in the range of 0.312 5-5 mg/L,the growth inhibition rate of HSC-LX-2 cell acceler-ated proportionally,which was in a dose-dependent manner (all P <0.05).However,when the MFA cell concentration was greater than 10 mg/L,the growth inhibition rate decreased.Similarly,within a certain concentration range (1.25-5.0 mg/L),as MFA concentration increased,we found that the expression of α-SMA and PCⅠin HSC-LX-2 cells declined progressively (all P <0.05).Conclusion MFA may inhibit the proliferation,down-regulate the mRNA and protein expression of α-SMA and PCⅠin the TGF-β1-induced HSC-LX-2 and inhibit the extracellular matrix synthesis and phenotype transformation of HSC-LX-2.