Objectives : Mori Folium was popularly used as one of the traditional medicinal herbs. Although M. Folium has been cultivated for rearing silkworm historically, it's use has been expanded as natural therapeutic agent for the treatment of filariasis, diabetes and dropsy in East Asia. However, little has been known about the effect of M. Folium on liver fibrosis. Therefore, we would like to explore an anti-fibrogenic potential of M. Folium extract (MFE) using immortalized human hepatic stellate

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... ll line, LX-2 cells. Methods : We examined the effects of MFE on the transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1)-induced liver fibrosis in LX-2 cells. Cell viability, Smad binding element-driven luciferase activity, phosphorylations level of Smad 2/3, and expression level of TGFβ1-dependent target genes were monitored in the MFE-treated LX-2 cells. Results : Up to 30 µg/ml MFE treatment did not show any possible toxic effect in LX-2 cells. MFE inhibited TGFβ1-inducible Smad binding element-driven luciferase activity and decreased the TGFβ1-inducible phosphorylations of Smad 2 and Smad 3 in hepatic stellate cell in a dose dependent manner. Furthermore, increases of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1, TGFβ1 and matrix metalloproteinases 2 genes by TGFβ1 were also attenuated by MFE treatment. Conclusions : These findings suggested that MFE would be used as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment liver fibrosis, which might be mediated by the inhibition of TGFβ1-inducible Smad 2/3 transactivation and target genes expression.