Biomedical Research

Dipsacus asperoides is a traditional Chinese medicine, commonly used in the treatment of various disorders of bones, joints and tendons and also in neurodegenerative diseases. Total alkaloids are one of the main ingredients of Dipsacus asperoides. The aim of this study is to optimize the extraction process of alkaloids in Dipsacus asperoides, and to explore their effects on proliferation of osteosarcoma SaOS-2 cell lines and gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), thereby laying the theoretical basis for the use of traditional Chinese medicine in treatment of osteosarcoma. Three conventional methods; namely the Soxhlet reflux extraction, conventional maceration extraction, and ultrasonic extraction were used to extract alkaloids from Dipsacus asperoides, and the yields of extracts were investigated. Human osteosarcoma SaOS-2 cell lines were thawed, and passaged when they were grown to confluence. The experiment was divided into blank control group, as well as 5%, 10%, 15% Dipsacus asperoides total alkaloids intervention groups. CCK-8 was used to detect the inhibitory effect of the total alkaloids on cell proliferation. RT-PCR was used to detect VEGF gene expression. CCK-8 assay results showed that at different points in time, different concentrations of the total alkaloids in Dipsacus asperoides had inhibitory effects on growth of SaOS-2 cells. RT-PCR revealed no significant suppression of VEGF gene expression among each Dipsacus asperoides total alkaloid group, but gene expression of VEGF showed a decreasing trend with the increase in the concentration of total alkaloids.

Author(s): Jianhui Dai, Haibin Lin, Susheng Niu, Xianwei Wu, Yujun Wu, Huaizhi Zhang
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