Endocrine Abstracts

Cuscuta japonica chois (CJC) has been used traditionally to treat sexual disorder and skin problem such as pimples, freckles and melasma in Korea. The present study aimed to investigate the alleviating effect of CJC extract on surgical injury-induced ischemia in the hind-limb of mice. In this study, Female C57BL/6 mice were ovariectomized and excised the vessels of hind-limb after ligated by surgical silk (6-0). The mice were administered with CJC (150 or 450 mg/kg per day) for 3 weeks and blood blow rate was evaluated using a laser Doppler system at −7, 0, 7, 14, 21 days after hind-limb ischemia. The serum profiles of angiogenetic factors and inflammatory factors were measured by antibody array, and its transcript-level were evaluated by RT-PCR. The blood flow rate was normalized with non-ischemic lesion, and the rate was significantly elevated at 14 and 21 days after hind-limb ischemia compared with the vehicle group. The density of capillaries was also significantly increased by CJC treatment in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, CJC up-regulated the transcriptional expression of angiogenetic factors including ET-1, ANGPT-1 and IGFBP-3, whereas, the inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1b were down-regulated in the hind-limb of mice. These results of present study assumed that CJC extract may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of hind-limb ischemia due to its peripheral angiogenesis and anti-inflammation in mice.