A stimulatory effect of Artemisia leaf extract on the proliferation of cultured endothelial cells.

To investigate the effect of the hot water extract from Artemisia leaf (Artemisia princeps Panpanini) (AFE) on the proliferation of endothelial cells, the cells from bovine aorta were cultured for up to 96 h in the presence of 1, 5, 10 or 50 micrograms/ml AFE in RPMI1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. After a 72 h culture, the cell number was significantly increased by AFE at 1, 5 and 10 micrograms/ml. An increase in the cell number by 5 micrograms/ml AFE observed after a 72 or 96 h treatment. The incorporations of both [3H]thymidine and [14C]leucine by the growing cells were significantly increased by 5 micrograms/ml AFE after a 72 h treatment. In addition, the incorporation of [3H]thymidine by either growing or confluent cells was significantly increased by 50 micrograms/ml AFE after a 72 h treatment. The stimulatory activity of AFE was recognized in the low-molecular-weight fraction (molecular weight less than or equal to 10000 dalton). These results clearly indicated that AFE contained some low-molecular-weight component(s) which stimulates the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells in vitro.