The traditional
Mongolian medicine (TMM)
RuXian-I is an empirical formula specifically used for treating the
hyperplasia of mammary gland (HMG) in clinic based on the principles of traditional
Mongolian medicine, but the treatment mechanism is not completely clear. In this paper, we elaborated the mechanism of
RuXian-I in the treatment of HMG induced by
estrogen and
progestogen from its toxicity and activity. Firstly,
RuXian-I exhibited no toxic effect on HMG rats through no changes of
body weight and food intake measurement and no pathologic changes of the organs (heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney) detected. Secondly,
RuXian-I could decrease the increased nipple height and diameter and remarkably relieve the pathologic changes of HMG rats and also alleviate serum
sex hormone levels (
estradiol (E2),
luteinizing hormone (LH),
progesterone (P), and
testosterone (T)) of HMG rats. Finally,
RuXian-I could obviously inhibit the upregulation level of antiapoptotic
protein CRYAB of HMG rats and promote mammary gland cell apoptosis of HMG rats via increases of promoting apoptosis
protein caspases-3, 8, and 9 and Bax and
tumor suppressor protein p53, decreases of antiapoptosis
protein Bcl-2, and release of
cytochrome c. These results suggested that
RuXian-I has protective and
therapeutic effects on HMG rats induced by
estrogen and
progestogen possibly via promoting apoptotic pathway regulated by CRYAB and is a promising agent for treating HMG.