Abstract: Objective To study the effect of herbal medicine Pteris semipinnata 5F on the fibroblasts from systemic scleroderma(SSc)skin and explore new drug for SSc treatment.Methods The SSc skin fibroblasts were cultured as an experimental model and the effects of Pteris semipinnata 5F were detected.The cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay,and the collagen production by photometric determination.The mRNA expression for type Ⅰ and Ⅲ procollagen was detected by RT-PCR.Results It was shown that Pteris semipinnata 5F could not only significantly inhibit the proliferation of the cultured SSc skin fibroblasts,but also significantly reduce the soluble collagen content in the culture medium(P<0.01).The inhibitory effect was increased along with the increasing the concentration of the drug and prolonging the time of action.The results of RT-PCR showed the expression of type Ⅰ and Ⅲ procollagen was decreased along with the increasing of the concentration of the drug.Conclusions The above results demonstrate that Pteris semipinnata 5F could significantly inhibit the proliferation and the collagen synthesis in cultured SSc skin fibroblasts.It may be developed as a new drug for the treatment of SSc.

Key words: Scleroderma,systemic, Fibroblast, Pteris semipinnata