Antiproliferative Effects of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Shimotsu-To, Its Component Cnidium Rhizome and Derived Compounds on Primary Cultures of Mouse Aorta Smooth Muscle Cells

Abstract

Antiproliferative effects of the Japanese-Sino medicine Shimotsu-to (a combined prescription of cnidium rhizome, angelica root, peony root and rehmannia root) were investigated in the primary culture of smooth muscle cells (SMC) of mouse aorta. Fetal bovine serum (10%)-induced proliferation of primary cultured SMC was inhibited by Shimotsu-to at 4, 20, 100 or 500 μg/ml. The inhibitory effect was selective on SMC and due to cnidium rhizome or angelica root. The IC₅₀ values of senkyunolide H, senkyunolide A, ligustilide and butylidenephthalide derived from cnidium were below 0.1, 1.52, 1.68 and 3.25 μg/ml, respectively. These results indicate that the antiproliferative effect of Shimotsu-to may depend on these cnidium-derived phthalides.