[Preparation of two derivatives from icariin and investigation of their estrogen-like effects].

To investigate the estrogen-like activities of icariin (ICA), icaritin (ICT) and desmethylicaritin (DICT) and their structure/activity relationships.ICT was hydrolyzed from ICA by cellulase and then DICT was demethylated from ICT in boron tribromide and dichloromethane system. Estrogen-sensitive MCF-7 cells and T47D cells were co-incubated with different concentrations of test compounds for 6 and 9 d respectively, and the cell proliferation was...