Abstract

Costunolide, a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from the Saussurea lappa possesses potent anticancer properties. In this study, for the first time we investigated the effects of costunolide on the cell viability, cell cycle and apoptosis in gastric adenocarcinoma SGC-7901 cells. The results showed that costunolide induced morphological changes and decreased the cell viability of SGC-7901 cells. Meanwhile, the parallel treatment of the costunolide to a normal splenocytes showed less strong effects. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that costunolide markedly induced apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells and arrested cell cycle at G2/M phase in a time-dependent manner. Costunolide-induced apoptosis was regulated by activation of caspase-3 and down-regulation of Bcl-2. Furthermore, costunolide significantly induced the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. It indicated that costunolide-induced apoptosis involved the mitochondria-dependent pathway in SGC-7901 cells. These in vitro results suggested that Costunolide should be further examined for in vivo activity and molecular mechanism in human gastric cancer.

Key words: Costunolide, apoptosis, SGC-7901 cells, splenocytes, G2/M phase.

Abbreviation

 DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid; TCM, traditional Chinese medicine; MTT, 3′-(4, 5 dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide; PI, propidium iodide; DMSO,dimethyl sulfoxide; FBS, fetal bovine serum; S.D, standard deviation; PBS, phosphate buffer saline; PVDF, polyvinylidene fluoride; SDS, sodium dodecyl sulphate; HRP, horseradish peroxidise; ECL, enhanced chemiluminescence; SPSS, statistically package for social sciences; HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography; NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance; MS, mass spectrometry.