Wo
und-
healing plants from Traditional C
hinese Medicine and described for wo
und
healing in t
he P
harmacopoeia of People's Rep
ublic of C
hina (2005 ed.) were investigated by in vitro bioassay on
human skin cells. T
herefore water and EtOH-water extracts (6:4, v/v) from 12 plants were tested on
human primary dermal fibroblasts (pNHDF) and
human HaCaT keratinocyte cell line by q
uantification of cell viability (MTT assay) and cell
ular proliferation (BrdU incorporation ELISA). No f
unctional activity was fo
und for extracts from Ac
hyrant
his bidentatae r
hizoma, Cimicif
ugae r
hizoma, Corydalis r
hizoma, Gardeniae fr
uct
us, Ho
utt
uyniae
herba, Lonicerae japonicae ca
ulis, Paeoniae r
ubrae radix and Re
hmanniae radix. Extracts from Notoginseng radix et r
hizoma, Angelicae sinensis radix and Lonicerae japonicae flos s
howed moderate activity, w
hile extracts from Mo
utan cortex (t
he root bark of
Paeonia suffruticosa Andr., Ran
unc
ulaceae) increased cell viability of HaCaT keratinocytes and pNHDF in a dose-dependent manner significantly. Bioassay-g
uided fractionation yielded paeonol
1, t
he flavan-3-ols catec
hin
2 and epicatec
hin-3-O-gallate
3, t
he dimeric proant
hocyanidin epicatec
hin-(4¦Â ¡ú 8)-catec
hin
4, a mixt
ure of trigalloyl-gl
ucoses
5 and 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-¦Â-d-gl
ucose (PGG)
6. T
he proant
hocyanidin-containing fractions as well as PGG-containing fractions contrib
uted s
ubstantially to t
he stim
ulating effects. Especially PGG-containing fractions en
hanced cell viability and cell
ular proliferation of HaCaT keratinocytes at concentration of 100 nM.
From these data we conclude that indication claims for TCM herbal materials must be carefully investigated in order to establish evidence-driven use of such plants. In case of Moutan cortex skin cell stimulating effects have clearly been proven. These effects can be related to the polyphenol fractions of condensed and hydrolysable tannins.