Osthole in Bushen Formula May Block HBV Gene Expression throughNotch and NF-κB Pathways

Abstract

Osthole is a natural coumarin in the Bushen formulation. Previous studies reported that it has the potential to
downregulate Notch and NFκB, which are important signaling pathways in cells. Therefore, we predicted that ostiole
might affect HBV gene expression by down-regulating these two signaling pathways. This study provides experimental
protocols to apply osthole to mouse hepatocytes and detect the strength of Notch and NFκB signaling pathways in
the cells and HBV gene expression levels. In this work, all possible results were analyzed. Notch signal intensity was
measured by assaying NICD, IκB measured NFκB signal intensity, and RT-PCR measured HBV gene expression level.
The study of Osthole is meaningful for the research on Chinese medicine. This study will allow a better explanation of
the mechanism of Bush’s formula and explore the more generalized effects of herbal medicines