6. BERBERINE -INDUCED UPREGULATION OF CIRCULATING ENDOTHELIAL PROGENITOR CELLS IMPROVES ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTION AND ARTERIAL ELASTICITY IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS

Background: It has been proved that Berberine(BR) can improve endothelial function recently. However, the underlying mechanisms about the effect of berberine on endothelial function are not completely clear. The number and function of circulating endothelial progenitor cells(EPC) are involved in the endothelia function alteration. We hypothesize that BR-related improvement of endothelial function is associated with the BR-induced upregulation of the number and function of circulating EPCs. Methods: To address this assumption, 20 healthy volunteers were recruited and received BR 0.4g three times per day for 30 days. The number of circulating CD34/KDR double-positive cells as well as the number of the cells demonstrating DiI-acLDL and FITC- lectin double-positive fluorescence cultured from peripheral blood was measured by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy before and after BR therapy, respectively. We also assessed the proliferative, adhesive and migratory activities of circulating EPCs, Flow-mediated vasodilation(FMD), C1 large and C2 small artery elasticity indices before and after treatment. Results: The number of CD34/KDR double positive EPCs increased significantly after BR treatment(0.032±0.019% vs 0.018±0.011%, P<0.05). The number of Dil-acLDL/FITC-lectin double positive cells from cell cultured also increased significantly(61.76±17.58 EPCs/field vs 31.60±6.41 EPCs/field, P<0.05). The function of EPCs including proliferation, adhesion and migration was increased. After 30-days BR therapy, FMD promoted but NMD did not change. C2 increased significantly (6.21±2.80 ml permm Hg/100 vs 4.06±2.67ml per mm Hg/100, P<0.01) and C1 remained unchanged (10.79±3.27 ml per Hg/10 vs 10.06±2.08 ml per mm Hg/10, P>0.05). The increment of CD34/KDR double-positive EPCs was positively correlated with both the increment of FMD (r=0.52,P<0.05) and the increment of C2 (r=0.68,P<0.01). Multiple regression analysis indicated that only the ΔEPC was identified as the independent value for determining ΔFMD (R2=0.27, P<0.01) and ΔC2 (R2=0.46, P<0.01). Conclusion: BR-induced upregulation of the number and function of circulating EPCs contributes to improvement of endothelial function and small artery elasticity in healthy subjects.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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