Polysaccharide Extracted from Bletilla striata Promotes Proliferation and Migration of Human Tenocytes

Zhi-Yu Chen; Shih-Heng Chen; Chih-Hao Chen; Pang-Yun Chou; Chun-Chen Yang; Feng-Huei Lin

doi:10.3390/polym12112567

Polysaccharide Extracted from Bletilla striata Promotes Proliferation and Migration of Human Tenocytes

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Nov 1;12(11):2567. doi: 10.3390/polym12112567.

Authors

Zhi-Yu Chen¹, Shih-Heng Chen^{1

2}, Chih-Hao Chen², Pang-Yun Chou², Chun-Chen Yang³, Feng-Huei Lin^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine and College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
² Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University and Medical College, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
⁴ Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli 350, Taiwan.

Abstract

Tendon healing after injury is relatively slow, mainly because of the weak activity and metabolic properties of tendon cells (tenocytes). Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP) has been reported to enhance cell proliferation. Here, we aimed to increase tendon cell proliferation by BSP treatment. We isolated tenocytes from the flexor tendon of human origin. Moreover, we improved the process of extracting BSP. When human tenocytes (HTs) were treated with 100 μg/mL BSP, the MEK/ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways were activated, thereby enhancing the proliferation ability of tenocytes. BSP treatment also increased the migration of HTs and their ability to secrete the extracellular matrix (Col-I and Col-III). In conclusion, BSP was successfully extracted from a natural Chinese herbal extract and was shown to enhance tenocytes proliferation, migration and collagen release ability. This study is the first to demonstrate improved healing of tendons using BSP.

Keywords: Bletilla striata; MEK/ERK1/2; PI3K/Akt; extracellular matrix; polysaccharide; tendon; tenocytes.