Inhibitory effects and mechanism of ursolic acid on the proliferation of rataortic smooth muscle cells

Abstract Aim： To observe the effect of ursolic acid(UA) on the proliferation of rat vascular smooth muscle cell(VSMC) induced by high-level glucose and explore its relationship with p38MAPK signal transduction pathway. Methods： The proliferation of VSMC induced by high-level glucose(25 mmol/L glucose) was adopted as model，the inhibition of UA on the proliferation of VSMC was measured by MTT assay，and the expression levels of phospho-p38MAPK was detected by cell-based ELISA as well as the expression of c-fos protein was examined by SABC method. Results： UA(20 μmol/L and 40 μmol/L) inhibited glucose-induced proliferation of VSMC (P<0.05).Compared with the group subjected to glucose induction，UA decreased the expression levels of phosphorylated p38MAPK(P<0.05)，and also inhibited c-fos expression. Conclusion： UA suppressed glucose induced proliferation of VSMC，which might be related to the suppression of the activation of p38MAPK signal transduction pathway，and thereby down-regulated c-fos expression.