Senegenin, an effective component of Polygala tenuifolia root extract, promotes proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells in the hippocampus.However, the effects of senegenin on mesencephalon-derived neural progenitor cells remain poorly understood.Cells from a ventral mesencephalon neural progenitor cell line (ReNcell VM) were utilized as models for pharmaceutical screening.The effects of various senegenin concentrations on cell proliferation were analyzed,demonstrating that high senegenin concentrations (5, 10, 50, and 100 pmo/L), particularly 50 pmol/L, significantly promoted proliferation of ReNcell VM cells.In the mitogen-activated protein kinase signal transduction pathway, senegenin significantly increased phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinases.Moreover, cell proliferation was suppressed by extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitors.Results suggested that senegenin contributed to in vitro proliferation of human neural progenitor cells by upregulating phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase.