Quercetin-induced apoptosis of human leukemia K562 cells

AIM: To study the effect of quercetin on the proliferation and apoptosis of human leukemia K562 cells.METHODS: The growth of K562 cells exposed to quercetin was observed by MTT assay.The apoptosis of K562 cells was detected by comet assay,the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling(TUNEL),and flow cytometry.RESULTS: Within the range of(1-8)×10~(-5) mol/L,quercetin obviously inhibited the proliferation of K562 cells in a time-and dose-dependent manner,and 8×10~(-5) mol/L quercetin which affected K562 cells for 72 h had the lowest A value;the long comet tail was presented on k562 cells which were treated with quercetin by comet assay;TUNEL showed that K562 cells became smaller and the condensed chromatin presented one or many masses; flow cytometry indicated that apoptosis of K562 cells induced by quercetin mainly occurred in G1/S phase.CONCLUSION: Quercetin could inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of K562 cells within a certain dose range in vitro.