• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1686-1693
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• 2004

Ekong-san(EKS) was expected to have inhibitory effects on angiogenesis, considering the fact that its constituents such as Ginseng Radix, Glycyrrhizae Radix and Citri Pericarpium were reported to inhibit angiogenesis. Moreover, recently several metabolites transformed by the human intestinal microflora were reported to enhance effectiveness compared to their crude drugs. Based on these data, this study was designed to confirm whether the EKS metabolites (EKS-M) can significantly exert the anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic activites. Hence, with EKS and EKS-M, viability assay, proliferation assay, in vitro tube formation assay, gelatin zymogram assay, in vitro invasion assay were carried out. EKS showed less toxicity in ECV304 and HT1080 cells than EKS-M. EKS-M inhibited the proliferation of HT1080 cells by 30% at 200㎍/㎖ and 42% at 400 ㎍/㎖ respectively. Also, EKS-M degraded the tube network at 200㎍/㎖. EKS and EKS-M inhibited the expression of MMP-9 at 200 and 400㎍/㎖ in HT1080 cells. EKS reduced the invasive activity of HT1080 cells through matrigel coated transfilter atthe concentration of 200㎍/㎖ more effectively than EKS-M. These data suggest that EKS and EKS-M has anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic activities.