Exp Mol Med.  2007 Jun;39(3):278-283.

Capsaicin promotes the development of burst-forming nits-erythroid (BFU-E) from mouse bone marrow cells

• Lee SA
• Ryu YS
• Choi HI
• Han IS

Abstract

Capsaicin, the pungent component of chilli peppers, is known to induce mediators of hematopoiesis. We investigated the effect of capsaicin on hematopoiesis in mouse progenitor cells. Treatment of mouse bone marrow cells with capsaicin induced the formation of colony of burst-forming units-erythroid (BFU-E). We also found that the number of erythropoietin receptor (EpoR)-positive cells was increased by capsaicin. To clarify the effect of capsaicin on erythroid lineage, BFU-E colonies were separated from non-BFU-E colonies by colony-picking after in vitro culture of mouse bone marrow cells. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that capsaicin stimulated the expression of the erythroid-specific genes encoding EpoR, glycophorin A (GPA), beta-globin (Hbb-b1), GATA-1, PU.1, nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2 (NF-E2), and Kruppel-like factor 1 (KLF1) in the BFU-E colonies. Furthermore, capsaicin could effectively stimulate the transfected GATA-1 promoter in K562 cells. GATA-1 is known as an essential transcription factor for the development of erythroid cells. Our results show that development of the erythroid lineage from bone marrow cells can be induced by treatment with capsaicin, and that GATA-1 seems to play a role in this induced erythroid maturation.

Keyword

capsaicin; erythroid progenitor cells; erythropoiesis; GATA1 transcription factor; receptors, erythropoietin

MeSH Terms

Animals
Bone Marrow Cells/*cytology/drug effects/metabolism
Capsaicin/*pharmacology
Cell Lineage
Cells, Cultured
Colony-Forming Units Assay
Erythroid Cells/*cytology
GATA1 Transcription Factor/genetics/metabolism
Hematopoiesis
Hematopoietic Stem Cells/*cytology/drug effects/metabolism
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Promoter Regions, Genetic
Receptors, Erythropoietin/metabolism