Preliminary Pharmacological Study of Polysaccharides from Angelica and Astragalus

Angelica and Astragalus, Chinese herbal medicine, are used as immunostimulants for enriching the blood, anti-tumor and antioxidation effects. However, the synergistic mechanisms of antioxidant and antitumor effects have long been the object of intensive study. We investigated the deferring senile effect of polysaccharides from Angelica and Astragalus (AAP) on aging mice by determination of the contents of monoamine oxidase (MAO) in brain, hydroxyproline (Hyp) in skin. In addition, KM mice with murine H22 hepatocarcinoma cell model were used to study the in vivo antitumor efficacy of AAP by measuring inhibition rate of tumor and immune organs index. The obtained results showed that AAP decreased significantly the content of MAO, and enhanced the concentrations of Hyp in aging mice. No significant differences were found as compared with those of vitamin E. The results of anti-tumor showed that inhibition rate of the higher dose of AAP was 43.8%, and it could enhance immune organs index. Our study indicates that AAP has significant deferring senile effect on the aging mice and suppressing the growth of H22 solid tumor in mice.