Effects of the pharmacological serum of Siwu Decoction and its ingredient herbs on proliferation and cell cycle of breast cancer cell line MCF-7 cells

Objective:To explore the phytoestrogenic effects of the pharmacological serum of Siwu Decoction and serums of its ingredient herbs on MCF-7 cells.Method:Immature female SD rats weighting 70±5g were randomly divided into seven groups:normal control group,positive control group and five Chinese medicine groups.The rats in different groups were treated for four days.On the fifth day, animals were sacrificed by abdominal aorta bleeding.The blood was collected and serum was separated.The effect of the pharmacological serum on proliferation assay with human breast cancer cell line(MCF7)was observed by means of MTT assay.Cell-cycle analyses and apoptosis rate were evaluated with propidium iodide staining by flow cytometry.Result:The pharmacological serum of Radix paeoniae alba,Radix angelicae sinensis and Rhizoma Chuanxiong stimulated proliferation of MCF7 cell respectively compared with normal control group(P0.01).The pharmacological serum of Radix rehmanniae preparata stimulated proliferation of MCF7 cell compared with normal control group(P0.05),The amount of cell in Phase S and proliferation index increased with the serum of Radix rehmanniae preparata,Radix angelicae sinensis and Rhizoma Chuanxiong(P0.01).Proliferation index increased with the serum of Radix paeoniae alba(P0.05).The pharmacological serum of Siwu Decoction could,to a certain extent,increase the amount of MCF7 cells when its ingredients are at the specific ratio.However,no statistical significance was detected(P0.05).The apoptosis could be inhibited by the pharmacological serums of the decoction and its included herbs except Radix rehmanniae preparata.Conclusion:The pharmacological serums of the four ingredient herbs of Siwu Decoction possess phytoestrogenic effects.However,the pharmacological serum of Siwu Decoction possesses less phytoestrogenic effects than each of its ingredients when the ingredients of the decoction were at the specific ratio.