Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of sodium fulvate on angiogenesis in vivo and in vitro. Sodium fulvate was extracted from young lignite of Zhaotong region in Yunnan province.Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) were treated with different concentrations of sodium fulvate.MTT and scratch assays were applied to analyze HUVECs viability and migration.The expression of autocrine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in HUVECs was detected by ELISA method.ImagePro Plus6.0 imaging software was used to quantify the area of the photoed blood vessels in CAM.Compared with the untreated group,sodium fulvate with the concentrations of 100,200 and 400 μg/mL can significantly inhibit proliferation of HUVECs (P<0.05, P<0.01).At the concentrations of 100 and 200 μg/mL,the migration of HUVECs was also inhibited and the expression of autocrine VEGF was downregulated as well (P<0.01).CAM assay results showed that the capillary vessels sprouts can be inhibited at the concentrations of 800 and 1200 μg/mL(P<0.05).In conclusion, sodium fulvate extracted from young lignite of Zhaotong region in Yunnan province showed anti-angiogenesis activity,which may be related to the down-regulation of VEGF expression.

Key words: sodium fulvate, angiogenesis, HUVECs, CAM, VEGF