Effects of Panax Notoginseng Saponins on Proliferation and Differentiation in NIH3T3 Cells

Objective： To investigate the effects of Panax notoginseng saponins （PNS） on the proliferation and differentiation in NIH3T3 cells. Methods： NIH3T3 cells were treated by various concentrations of PNS 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, and 0.40 g/L. The vitality and proliferation potential of cells were detected by 3-（4,5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl）-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide （MTT） assay, the alkaline phosphatase （ALP） activity was measured by p-nitrophenyl phosphate （pNPP） assay, and the mineralization formation ability was tested for the cellular differentiation toward osteoblast, as well as the expression level of phosphorylated extrecellular signal-regulated kinasel/2（P-ERK1/2）, extracellular signal-regulated kinasel/2 （ERK1/2） protein kinase was analyzed by Western blot with total cell lysate of NIH3T3 cells treated by PNS. Results： Both MTT and pNPP assay showed that optical density （OD） values were increased in response to PNS treatment at a dose-dependent pattern. The mineralization formation ability was enhanced in PNS-treated NIH3T3 cells compared with untreated cells. Meanwhile, the expression level of P-ERK1/2 protein kinase was up-regulated in PNS-treated NIH3T3 cells, while, the expression level of ERK1/2 protein kinase revealed no obvious difference with or without PNS treated cells. Conclusion： PNS could pay a role to promote the proliferation and differentiation in NIH3T3 cells by means of up-regulation of P-ERK1/2 protein kinase.