Objective: To explore the inhibition of Tangtong Recipe (TTR) on proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in rat model of diabetes mellitus using seropharmacological and modern molecular biological technologies.
Methods: The drug-serum of TTR was prepared by feeding pure-breed New Zealand rabbits at various doses (18 mL/kg, 13 mL/kg, and 8 mL/kg) of TTR, and used to intervene the VSMCs get from the iliac artery of diabetic model rats cultured by tissue block plantation. The impact of drug-serum on VSMCs proliferation was estimated through measuring tritiated thymine deoxy-ribonucleotide (3H-TDR) incorporation using liquid-scintillation detector, and the cell cycle was detected using flow cytometry.
Results: The 3H-TDR incorporation in cells after intervention with various doses of TTR drug-serum were reduced significantly, in a concentration-dependent manner, to the level lower than that in the normal serum control group (P < 0.01). And the percentage of S and G2/M phase cells in the drug-serum treated groups also were markedly lower than that in the normal control group (P < 0.01).
Conclusion: Drug-serum of TTR could inhibit the proliferation of VSMC of diabetic rat in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner.