Am J Chin Med. 2002 ; 30(2-3): 287-95.

Chinese medicine induces neurite outgrowth in PC12 mutant cells incapable of differentiation.

Kano Y, Takaguchi S, Nohno T, Hiragami F, Kawamura K, Iwama MK, Miyamoto K, Takehara M.

Department of Health Science, Kibi International University, Takahashi-city, Okayama, Japan. yoshio@kiui.ac.jp

During continuous culture of neural PC12 cells, we obtained a drug-hypersensitive PC12 mutant cell that showed high stimulation of neurite outgrowth by various drugs. When several Chinese medicines such as shu-jing-huo-xie-tang and Wu-Ling-San were provided to these PC12 mutant cells, the frequency of nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced neurite outgrowth increased approximately 30-fold compared to NGF alone. Neurite outgrowth induced by NGF in PC12 cells is accompanied by sustained activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK); however, these Chinese medicines did not induce MAPK activity. The findings thus indicate that certain Chinese medicines may induce neurite outgrowth by a novel mechanism which is distinct from the NGF-activated pathway in PC12 mutant cells.