• 대한한방부인과학회지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.29-44
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• 2005

To address the ability of Herba Portulacae(HP) to induce cell death, we investigated the effect of HP on cell viability. Twenty-four hours later, loss of viability occurred following HP exposure in a dose-dependent manner. The treatment of HP, a commonly used herb formulation in Korea, Japan and China, caused a decrease in cell viability. HP also resulted in apoptotic morphology a brightly blue-fluorescent condensed nuclei by Hoechst 33258-staining, and reduction of cell volume. Our results show that 2mg/ml HP induces mitochondria membrane potential collapse. Immunoblotting data also shows that the expression of Bcl-2, antiaoptotic protein, decrease by the addition of HP. This GFP-Bax overexpression system shows that an important pro-apoptotic Bcl-2-family protein, Bax is translocated to mitochondria by the addition of 2mg/ml HP. Inerestingly, MAPK inhibitor study shows that p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580 inhibits HP-induced cell death and caspase-3 activation in HP-treated HeLa cells. Furthermore, HP transiently but significantly induces p38 activation. But P38 MAPK inhibitor does not have any effect on the translocation of Bax. Considering these results, HP induces apoptosis via p38 MAPK activation. But the pathway does not involve the translocation of Bax.