inhibition of angiogenesis; a novel effect of zataria multiflora

background: angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from preexisting ones, is one of the most important physiological and pathological processes occur in the body. in the pathological conditions such as tumor growth, psoriasis, corneal neovascularization and rheumatoid arthritis, angiogenesis is crucially required for the devolopment of the disease. zataria multiflora as a member of labiatae family with a vast range of traditional uses has been long applied in iran old medicine. methods: in this study, anti angiogenic activity of this plant was evaluated. in order to do so, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (huvecs) were isolated from newborns umbilical vein and then cultured to be used for cytotoxicity (ldh test) test. with ldh results in hand, other tests were designed such as angiogenesis (cytodex-3 micro carrier) and migration (wound healing) tests. results: the cytotoxicity assays showed no toxicity of z.multiflora toward huvecs in a range of 10-450µg/ml of the extract. this extract was also able to inhibit angiogenesis and migration in 200µg/ml. conclusion: our data clearly demonstrated an inhibitory effect of z.multiflora on angiogenesis and migration of huvecs. if complementary studies will be done, z.multiflora could be used as an angiogenesis inhibitor for angiogenesis dependent diseases.