Effect of Glucosidorum Tripterygll Totorum, Berberine and Daunorubicin on Acute Lymphocyte Leukemia Cells and Comparison of Different Tetrazolium Salt Assays

Objective To study the cytotoxic effect of herbatal, berberine and daunorubicin on MOLT-4 cell lines, and explore the difference between traditional tetrazolium salt(MTT) assay and improved MTT assay.Methods The survival ratio of MOLT-4 cell lines were detected by traditional MTT assay and improved MTT assay after pretreatment with different drug concentration.Results The index of variance changed from 0 to 0.2 by improved MTT assay,and from 0.2 to 0.6 by traditional assay. After 24 hours, the survival ratio was 36.36%(DNR 1 mg/L),14.81%(Herbatal 10 mg/L and DNR 1 mg/L),21.56%(DNR 1 mg/L and berberine 10 mg/L),96.32%( Herbatal 10 mg/L) and 61.56% (Berberine 10 mg/L),respectively.Conclusions Improved MTT assay had more advantages than the traditional one in studying the proliferation and cytotoxicity on suspended cell lines. Both DNR and berberine may inhibit the proliferation of MOLT-4 cells. Both herbatal and berberine may improve the anti-tumor effect of DNR.