ethyl acetate fraction of teucrium polium extract abolishes human umbilical vein endothelial cells (huvec) tubulogenesis in collagen bed through suppression of cell proliferation/vegf secretion

Angiogenesis has essential role in growth and metastasis of tumors. development of therapies aimed to suppress angiogenesis using medicinal plants is one of the effective approaches for prevention/treatment of cancer. the current study was performed to investigate in vitro anti-angiogenic effect of teucrium polium (tp) extract and its fractions. the aerial part of teucrium polium was powdered and extracted with 50% ethanol. the extract was fractionated in to aqueous (aq), n-butanol (bu), ethyl acetate (ea) and n-hexane (he) fractions. anti-angiogenic effect of tp was examined on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (huvecs) in three-dimensional collagen matrix. the endothelial cells form capillary-like branches that can be visualized using phase contrast microscope and the number of tube-like structures can be quantified as a measure of in vitro angiogenesis. furthermore, anti-proliferative and vascular endothelial growth factor(vegf )suppressive effect of tp as important factors in the process of angiogenesis were assessed using3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (mtt)and quantitative elisa, respectively. based on our findings, among the tp fractions, ea fraction showed the highest inhibitory activity on angiogenesis. this fraction with ic50: 68 μg/ml, inhibited angiogenesis at 60 μg/ml. the crude extract and other fractions of tp inhibited angiogenesis in a dose-dependent manner at doses higher concentrations than ea fraction, significantly.tp extract and ea fraction were able to inhibit proliferation of huvec and inhibited vegf secretion in a dose dependent manner. the ethyl acetate fraction at 60 μg/ml inhibited vegf secretion perfectly. our data indicated that ethyl acetate fraction of teucrium polium could be a potential candidate for the prevention of angiogenesis in cancer and other related disorders. however, this suggestion needs more quantitative and in vivo investigations for confirmation.