[The effect of Tianma injection on cultured vascular smooth muscle cells proliferation]

The proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) has been thought to play an important role in the development of hypertension and atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Tianma Injection and its major component Gastrodin on the proliferation of cultured VSMC. VSMC were cultured and randomly divided into the control, Tianma and Gastrodin groups. The results showed that Tianma Injection significantly decreased cell numbers dose-dependently and time-dependently, and it inhibited 3H-TdR incorporation in VSMC. It also increased the content of PGI2 production in VSMC. However, no significant differences of the above measurements were observed between the Gastrodin and control groups. The suggest that Tianma Injection can inhibit VSMC proliferation and the effect possibly results from its increasing PGI2 production content, and that the inhibiting effect of Tianma is irrelated to Gastrodin.