Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) is an alkaloid extracted from lycium barbarum. LBP is the active component of lycium barbarum used to treat hypertension, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases in Chinese traditional medicine. However, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of LBP- mediated activity in vascular disease remain poorly understood. In the present study, we showed the protective effect of LBP in vascular smooth muscle cells. Our results indicate that LBP significantly reduces the proliferation of VSMCs caused by Homocysteine (Hcy) and inhibits the phenotypic transformation of VSMCs caused by Hcy, from contractile to synthetic. LBP inhibited the protein expression of PI3K and Akt caused by Hcy, and increased the expression of miR-145. The results indicate that LBP exhibits substantial therapeutic potential for the treatment of Hcy-induced VSMCs proliferation and phenotypic transformation through inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

枸杞多糖（LBP）是从枸杞提取的生物碱。LBP是枸杞的活性成分，用于治疗中药中的高血压，动脉粥样硬化和其他心血管疾病。然而，在血管疾病中LBP介导的活性的基本细胞和分子机制仍知之甚少。在本研究中，我们显示了LBP对血管平滑肌细胞的保护作用。我们的结果表明，LBP显着降低了由同型半胱氨酸（Hcy）引起的VSMC的增殖，并抑制了由Hcy引起的VSMC的表型转化，从收缩到合成。LBP抑制Hcy引起的PI3K和Akt蛋白表达，并增加miR-145的表达。