A Chinese herbal decoction prepared from Radix Astragali and Radix Angelicae Sinensis induces the expression of erythropoietin in cultured Hep3B cells

Danggui Buxue Tang (DBT), a Chinese medicinal decoction used commonly for treating women's ailments, contains Radix Astragali (RA) and Radix Angelicae Sinensis (RAS). According to Chinese medicinal theory, this decoction is to nourish the blood function; this, however, has not been demonstrated on the molecular level. In order to reveal the hematopoietic effect of this decoction, DBT was applied to cultured Hep3B human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The treatment of DBT induced mRNA expression of erythropoietin (EPO) in a dose-dependent manner and peaked at approximately 2.5-fold induction. The secreted EPO in cultured Hep3B cells was quantified by ELISA: the treatment of DBT potentiated the effect of hypoxia-induced EPO expression in the cultured cells. In addition, the DBT-induced EPO expression could be abolished by pre-treatment with U0126, a mitogen-activated kinase inhibitor. The current results verified the hematopoietic function of this ancient herbal decoction.