Apoptosis-inducing Effect of Scutellaria Barbata D.Don Extract on Human Liver Cancer SMMC-7721 Cells and the Expression of Apoptosis Related Proteins

Objective To explore the apoptosis-inducing effect of Scutellaria barbata D.Don extract(SBE)and the expression of apoptosis associated proteins Bcl-2,Survivin and Caspase-3 on human liver cancer SMMC-7721 cells.Methods SMMC-7721 cells were treated with 2.5,5 and 10 mg·L-1 SBE for 48h,and the cells were treated with 2.5mg·L-1 DDP as positive control.The inhibitory rat was evaluated by MTT assay.The apoptotic rate was determined by flow cytometry.The expression of Bcl-2,Survivin and Caspase-3 proteins were detected by two-step immunohistochemical staining.Results Compared with control group,the inhibitory rate was increased obviously(P0.001),the apoptotic rate was increased markedly(P0.01),the expression of Caspase-3 protein was increased significantly(P0.01 or P0.05),while Bcl-2 and Survivin proteins were decreased markedly(P0.01 or P0.05) in SBE groups.Conclusion SBE can induce apoptosis of liver cancer SMMC-7721 cells.The molecular mechanism might be related to up-regulating the expression of Caspase-3 and down-regulating the expression of Bcl-2 and Survivin apoptosis related proteins.