Blood coagulation is a host defense mechanism that assists
in maintaining the integrity of the closed, high-pressure
mammalian circulatory system after blood vessel injury. In
the abnormal conditions, it is also involved in the thrombo-
sis, atherosclerosis, inammation and metastasis by the acti-
vation of enzymes in the coagulation cascade and the
platelets.1)
The key enzyme, thrombin, and platelets, play an
important role in the initiation of the coagulation process and
involve in the formation of the brin clot and platelet plug in
the vascular system. Thus, safe and effective inhibitors of
thrombin and platelets should be useful tools in the treatment
of venous thrombosis, arterial brillation, restenosis, arterial
thrombosis, and in the prevention of myocardial infarction.
Because of this, the modulation of thrombin by direct in-
hibitors and antiplatelet agents are widely sought goals in the
development of anticoagulant agents.2)
A number of previous
studies have tried to screened out potential candidates of an-
ticoagulant and antiplatelet agents from plants,3,4)
and some
herbs identied with potent anticoagulation and antiplatelet
activities.5,6)
Bak Foong Pill (BFP, also known as Bai Feng Wan), an
over-the-counter traditional Chinese medicine with 26 ingre-
dient herbs, has a long history for treating gynecological dis-
orders, such as dysmenorrhea, irregular menstrual cycle and
irregular bleeding. Clinical indications also suggest that BFP
has benecial effect on overall body functional systems in-
cluding the cardiovascular, digestive system as well as the re-
productive system. Our previous studies has demonstrated
estrogenic effect of BFP and it benecial effect on gastroin-
testinal secretion,7,8)
as well as preventing/delaying develop-
ment of hypertension in spontaneous hypertension rats (Zhou

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