Inhibitory Effects of Curcumin on the Growth of Human Cervical Carcinoma Hela Cells

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the inhibitory effect of curcumin on the growth of human cervical carcinoma Hela cells.METHODS:Curcumin was extracted and purified by 75% ethanol.Hela cells were cultured in vitro,and inhibitory effects of curcumin on the growth of Hela cells were measured with MTT method to explore optimal inhibitory concentrations;the morphologic change of human cervical carcinoma Hela cells was observed by inverted microscope;the expression of p53 protein in Hela cell was observed by Western blot method.In addition,cell apoptosis and cell cycle were inspected by flow cytometry.RESULTS:The optimal inhibitory concentration of curcumin to Hela cells in 24 h was 116.68 μg/ml,with inhibitory ratio of 63.20%.After treated with 11.67,35.00,58.34 μg/ml curcumin for 24 h,the number of human cervical carcinoma Hela cells decreased significantly,cell rounding,shrinking and aging was in concentration-dependant manner.The p53 protein expression was increased after treated with 29.17,145.85 μg/ml curcumin;11.67,35.00,58.34 μg/ml curcumin could promote the apoptosis of human cervical carcinoma Hela cells,in concentration-dependant manner.With the increase of curcumin concentration,the number of cells in G0/G1 phase and S phase were decreased while the number of cells in G2/M phase was increased.CONCLUSIONS:Curcumin has obvious inhibitory effect on human cervical carcinoma Hela cells,promote the apoptosis of Hela cells and the expression of p53 protein.It also prevents the cells in G2/M phase.