N. Bouaziz et al., Effect of Ruscus extract and hesperidin methylchalcone on hypoxia-induced activation of endothelial cells, INT ANGIOL, 18(4), 1999, pp. 306-312
Background. Ruscus aculeatus extract and the flavonoid hesperidin methylcha
lcone (HMC) are drugs used in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency
,
Methods, In the present study, we investigated their effects on the activat
ion of endothelial cells by hypoxia, a condition which mimics venous blood
stasis,
Results. We observed that Ruscus extract was able to inhibit the activation
of endothelial cells by hypoxia: the decrease in ATP content, the activati
on of phospholipase A, as well as the subsequent increase in neutrophil adh
erence with a maximal protection obtained at 50 mu g/ml. HMC was also able
to inhibit the hypoxia-induced decrease in ATP content. Furthermore, the ef
fects of Ruscus extract and of HMC on this decrease seem to be additive.
Conclusions. The biochemical mechanism evidenced in this work might explain
some of the beneficial therapeutic effects of these products in the treatm
ent of chronic venous insufficiency patients.