Antiproliferative activity of protocatechualdehyde on Chinese hamster cells grown in culture

Abstract

The mode of cytotoxic action of protocatechualdehyde on V79 cells was examined. The cytotoxicity of protocatechualdehyde on V79 cells was time- and cell cycle-dependent. The lethal action is selective for the cells at S phase only. The cells lethally damaged at S phase seemed to complete their DNA synthesis, although the rate of DNA synthesis became lower and the duration of S phase was prolonged. Some cells arriving at G2 phase directly entered the next S phase without cell division and died of karyorrhexis or karyolysis. Cells treated at stages of the cell cycle other than S showed normal progression of their cell cycle to the G1/S boundary. The block point of the cell cycle seemed to lie a little behind that with hydroxyurea. When the cells at phases other than S were blocked with protocatechualdehyde for 14 hr, elongation of the next S phase occurred after removal of protocatechualdehyde. On alkaline sucrose gradient analysis, little scission of parental DNA was observed in the cells treated with protocatechualdehyde.