To investigate the effect of ginsenoside-Rg1 on paraurethral fascia fibroblasts multiplication and the expression of proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) women in vitro. Specimens of human paraurethral fascia were obtained from 4 SUI women during tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) or tension-free vaginal tape-obturator (TVT-O) procedure. Fibroblasts were isolated and cultured by outgrowth technique. After reaching confluency fibroblasts were subcultured every 5 days and cells after passage number 3 to 5 were used for assessment. The paraurethral fascia fibroblasts were treated with ginsenoside-Rg1 at different concentrations (5, 10, 20 micromol/L) and fibroblasts without Rg1 were used as control. The multiplication conditions of paraurethral fascia fibroblasts were respectively detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay and the expression of PCNA by histochemistry. (1) Compared with the control group, the growth rate of cells treated with different concentrations of Rg1 after 72h [(29 +/- 5)%, (40 +/- 5)%, (26 +/- 4)% respectively] was significantly higher (P < 0.01). (2) Compared with the control group, the stimulatory effect of Rg1 on fibroblast growth was significant at 24 h (P < 0.01), and peaked at 72 h [(29 +/- 5)%, (40 +/- 5)%, (26 +/- 4)% respectively, P < 0.01]. (3) Compared with the control group (28.77%), there was a significant increase of PCNA-positive cells (P < 0.01) after 48 h treatment with different concentrations of Rg1 (49.24%, 83.48%, 54.50% respectively). The results indicate that, at least in vitro, fibroblasts from paraurethral fascia taken from women suffering from SUI are able to proliferate after ginsenoside-Rg1 treatment.