Objective  To explore the effect of the serum of rat after intragastric injection of a traditional Chinese drug

San Jia Yi Gan  granula (SJG) on the morphology

proliferation and apoptosis of rat hepatic stellate cell line HSC-T6 in order to elucidate the underlying mechanism by which SJG exerts anti-fibrosis on hepatic cells.   Methods  Thirty male SD rats were randomly and equally divided into 5 groups: control group

Silybin group (Sily

4.38 mg/kg)

low-dose SJG group (SJG-L

1.7 g/kg)

middle-dose SJG group (SJG-M

3.4 g/kg)

and high-dose SJG group (SJG-H

6.8 g/kg). Solutions of normal saline

Sily

and SJG at corresponding doses were given the rats respectively by intragastrical injection once per day

for 7 d. The rats were killed in 1 h after last injection and their heart were removed to produce the drug-contained sera. HSC-T6 cells were exposed to different doses of drug-contained serum (5%

10%

20% and 40%) for 24 or 48 h. The morphology of HSC-T6 cells were observed with phase contrast microscopy

proliferation by MTT assay

and cell apoptosis by flow cytometry.   Results  HSC-T6 cells after the drug-contained sera treatment showed significant changes compared with those treated with the control serum

with lesser cells

intercellular space widening

shrinked cell body

and condensed chromatin to form spheres. MTT assay showed that various concentrations of drug-contained sera inhibited the proliferation of HSC-T6 cells

with SJG-M and SJG-H groups had stronger inhibitory effect than Sily group (P0.05)

while whose effect was no difference with that of SJG-L group. Flow cytometry demonstrated that the apoptotic ratios of HSC-T6 cells in SJGH group [(11.63±1.53)%] and SJG-M group [(7.09±1.04)%] were higher than that in SJG-L group [(4.17±0.30)%]

Sily group [(4.38±1.07)%]

and the control group [(1.74±0.11)%

P0.05]. SJG induced apoptosis of HSC-T6 cells in a dose-dependent manner.   Conclusion  SJG-contained serum significantly inhibits the proliferation of HSC-T6 and induces cell apoptosis.