Zanthoxylum piperitum effects on melanocyte -microarray analysis-

T Hisa MD PhD, H Yanagie MD PhD, T Nishihira MD PhD, MD Osada PhD, Y Furuya MD PhD, H Sugiyama MD PhD, T Sairenji MD PhD, K Tamai MD PhD, M Eriguchi MD PhD

Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

AIM: Chinese herbal medicine has received little scientific investigation so far and is based on empirical knowledge, but it does have a very long history. We have focused on our attention on Zanthoxylum piperitum, because it has been used for treating white hair. We really have experienced the patients' white hair turn into black during the clinical usage of Zanthoxylum piperitum. Therefore, we wanted to examine, using molecular biology technique, whether melanocyte gene expressions were influenced by Zanthoxylum piperitum. METHODS: Microarray analysis was used to determine the difference between the mRNA from naive melanocytes and the mRNA from Zanthoxylum piperitum treated melanocytes. RESULTS: Melanocytes' some interesting genes showed up-regulations, and some other genes showed down-regulations. CONCLUSIONS: Zanthoxylum piperitum has several effects on melanocytes.

Paper presented at the International Symposium on Predictive Oncology and Intervention Strategies; Nice, France; February 7 - 10, 2004; in poster session 892 (Susceptibility genes).