Objective To evaluate the effect of Yishenqinghuo recipe on biological characteristic of rat bone marrow stromal cells(BMSCs) and search for the function and mechanism of this recipe in treatment of periodontitis. Methods 12- to 15-month-old SD rats were allocated into 5 groups. Group A: control group(with no periodontitis model, fed with the same dosage of saline as Group D); Group B: model group(with periodontitis model, fed with the same dosage of saline as Group D); Group C: high dosage group(with periodontitis model, fed with a high dosage of medicine); Group D: middle dosage group(with periodontitis model, fed with a middle dosage of medicine); and Group E: low dosage group(with periodontitis model, fed with a low dosage of medicine). Ten days later, serums were collected from all the five groups for in vitro cultivation of BMSCs. Results There was displayed a similarity in effect between the serum collected from Group C1(serum collected 0.5 h after the last gavage of Group C) and that from Group A after the last gavage, the effect being the best in terms of proliferation of BMSCs. A comparison with the other groups had revealed a striking difference(P