Gastrodia elata Blume and Zanthoxylum schinifolium Siebold & Zucc Mixed Extract Suppress Platelet Aggregation and Thrombosis

Background and objectives: Blood vessel thrombosis causes blood circulation disorders, leading to various diseases. Currently, various antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs, such as aspirin, warfarin, heparin, and non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs), are used as the major drugs for the treatment of a wide range of thrombosis. However, these drugs have a side effect of possibly causing internal bleeding due to poor hemostasis when taken for a long period of time. Materials and Methods: Gastrodia elata Blume (GE) and Zanthoxylum schinifolium Siebold & Zucc (ZS) are known to exhibit hemostatic and antiplatelet effects as traditional medicines that have been used for a long time. In this study, we investigated the effect of a mixed extract of GE and ZS (MJGE09) on platelet aggregation and plasma coagulation. Results: We found that MJGE09 inhibited collagen-and ADP-induced platelet aggregation in vitro. In addition, collagen- and ADP-induced platelet aggregation were also inhibited in a dose-dependent manner on the platelets of mice that were orally administered MJGE09 ex vivo. However, compared with aspirin, MJGE09 did not prolong the rat tail vein bleeding time in vivo and did not show a significant effect on the increase in the prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). Conclusions: These results suggest that MJGE09 can be used as a potential anticoagulant with improved antithrombotic efficacy.