Effects of sinomenine on in vitro proliferation and apoptosis of fibroblast-like synoviocyte from patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective To observe the effect of sinomenine(SN) on in vitro apoptosis and proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes(FLS) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Methods The morphological changes of FLS were observed by invert microscope and fluorescence microscope.The amount of apoptotic cells was measured by flow cytometry.The inhibition rate of FLS was examined by MTT assay.Results The morphological changes of apoptosis,such as cell rounding,shrinkage and enhanced fluorescein stain,were observed.Flow cytometry demonstrated that the apoptosis rate increased with increased SN concentration and treatment time.The difference of apoptosis rate between the treated and non-treated group was significant(P0.05).The effect of SN on the FLS apoptosis was most obvious when SN was 3.2 mmol/L and the treatment time was 48 h.The cell inhibition of SN-treated group(2.8,3.0,3.2 mmol/L) was significantly increased as compared with corresponding non-treated group(P0.01) by MTT assay.The inhibition rate of FLS was found positively correlated with apoptosis rate under the treatment of SN(P0.05).Conclusion In a certain concentration and treatment time,SN can inhibit FLS proliferation and induce apoptosis.This may be one of the therapeutic mechanisms of SN on RA.