Phellopterin Suppresses Airway Mucin Secretion induced by Adenosine Triphosphate

Angelicae Dahiricae Radix has been used for controlling inflammatory respiratory diseases in oriental medicine and their components, phellopterin, isoimperatorin and byakangelicol were reported to have various biological effects. In this study, we investigated whether phellopterin, isoimperatorin and byakangelicol affect adenosine triphosphate(ATP)-induced mucin secretion from cultured airway epithelial cells. Confluent primary hamster tracheal surface epithelial(HTSE) cells were metabolically radiolabeled using -glucosamine for 24 h and chased for 30 min in the presence of varying concentrations of each agent to assess the effects on -mucin secretion. The results were as follows: 1) phellopterin significantly inhibited ATP-induced mucin secretion; 2) However, isoimperatorin and byakangelicol did not affect ATP-induced mucin secretion, significantly. This result suggests that phellopterin can regulate 'mucin secretion induced by ATP'-a phenomenon simulating mucus overproduction from inflamed airway epithelial cells-by directly acting on airway mucin-secreting cells. Therefore, phellopterin should further be investigated for the possible use as mucoregulators in the treatment of inflammatory airway diseases.