The inhibitory effect of dihydroartemisinin on the growth of neuroblastoma cells

Objective To evaluate the inhibitory effect of dihydroartemisinin on neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y, explore the possible mechanism of dihydroartemisinin against neuroblastoma cells. Methods The cell viability of dihydroartemisinin treated SH-SY5Y cells was examined by MTT assay and morphology of cells was observed by using inverted microscope. Cell cycle was examined with flowcytometry assay, then cyclin D1 and caspase-3 proteins expression was detected by ELISA and western blotting assay. Results MTT analysis results showed that cell viability significantly decreased after exposure to 0.05, 0.50, 5.00 and 50.00 μmol/L dihydroartemisinin in a dose-dependent manner, and the lower density of cells was observed in treated groups. The number of cells in sub-G1 phase was increased after treatment with different doses of dihydroartemisinin compared with the control group. The expression of cyclin D1 protein was decreased, while the expression of caspase-3 protein was increased in treated group. Conclusions Dihydroartemisinin could inhibit the proliferation through stopping the cell cycle and inducing the apoptosis in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells.