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. 2015 Winter;14(1):251-61.

Effects and Mechanism of Baicalin on Apoptosis of Cervical Cancer HeLa Cells I n -v itro

Yong Peng  1 , Zhan-Zhao Fu  2 , Cong-Shan Guo  3 , Yan-Xia Zhang  3 , Ya Di  2 , Bin Jiang  3 , Qing-Wang Li  4
Affiliations

Effects and Mechanism of Baicalin on Apoptosis of Cervical Cancer HeLa Cells I n -v itro

Yong Peng et al. Iran J Pharm Res. 2015 Winter.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to observe the apoptosis-inducing effect and mechanism of baicalin on human cervical cancer HeLa cells. The inhibitory effect of baicalin on the growth of HeLa cells was measured by MTT assay, and cell proliferation and migration was analyzed by cell scratch assay. Morphological changes of apoptotic cells were viewed by the light microscope and electron microscope, and cell growth arrest was confirmed by flow cytometry. Moreover, Western blot was used for investigating the expression of apoptosis related proteins; spectrophotometry was used to examine Caspase-3 activation. Our results showed that baicalin could inhibit the proliferation of HeLa Cells via induction of apoptosis in a time and dose-dependent manner (P<0.01). Apoptotic signaling induced by baicalin was characterized by up-regulating Bax, Fas, FasL and Caspase-8 protein expression, and down-regulating of Bcl-2 protein expression. These results indicated that baicalin-induced apoptosis involved activation Caspase-3 in HeLa cells through the intracellular mitochondrial pathway and the surface death receptor pathway.

Keywords: Baicalin; Caspase-3; Cell apoptosis; Death receptor pathway; HeLa cells; Mitochondrial pathway.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effect of baicalin on the growth of HeLa cells.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effect on the proliferation and migration ability of HeLa cells treated with baicalin(×100). (A) control group(0 h),(B) control group(12 h), (C) control group(24 h), (D) high dose baicalin group(0 h), (E) high dose baicalin group(12 h), (F) high dose baicalin group(24 h), (G) low dose baicalin group(0 h), (H) low dose baicalin group(12 h), (I) low dose baicalin group(24 h).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Morphological changes of apoptotic HeLa cells induced by baicalin observed under inverted microscopy (×400). (A) control group(24 h), (B) high dose group(24 h), (C) low dose group(24 h), (D) control group(48 h), (E) high dose group(48 h), (F) low dose group(48 h).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Morphology of apoptotic HeLa cells induced by baicalin observed by TEM(×6000). (A) control group, (B) high dose baicalin group.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Detection of the percentage of apoptotic cells by flow cytometry. (A) control group, (B) high dose group, (C) low dose group, (D) effect of baicalin on HeLa cells apoptosis. *P<0.05 as compared with control group
Figure 6
Figure 6
Expression of Bcl-2 and Bax protein induced by baicalin in HeLa cells.(A) control group, (B) low dose group, (C) high dose group
Figure 7
Figure 7
Expression of Fas, FasL and Caspase-8 protein induced by baicalin in HeLa cells. (A) control group, (B) low dose group, (C) high dose group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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