Anti-proliferative effect of Glycyrrhiza extraction on Hela cells and its mechanism

Objective To isolate an active anti-tumor extraction from Glycyrrhiza (GL-1) and to investigate anti-proliferative and apoptosis induction effects of GL-1 on Hela cells.Methods By using water filtering,acetone-extraction and methanol purification,we extracted GL-1 from Glycyrrhiza;then main components of GL-1 were detected with high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS).3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was adopted to determine the anti-proliferative effect of GL-1 on Hela cells.With double acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining,we observed morphological change of Hela cells treated with GL-1.Transmission electronic microscope (TEM) was used to observe morphological change of typical apoptosis.Results GL-1 includes 9 main components.The result of MTT assay indicates that GL-1 has an obvious anti-proliferative effect on Hela cells.The half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC₅₀) of GL-1 were 51.90,22.30,and 16.10 μg/ml (P<0.05) for the treatment time of 12,24,and 48 hours,respectively.The results of AO/EB double staining assay showed that GL-1 could induce apoptosis in Hela cells.TEM observation revealed typical morphological apoptosis changes,including decreased nucleus/cytoplasm ratio,absence of nucleus,vacuoles in cytoplasm,condensed chromatin,and detachment of microvilli on cell membran.Conclusion GL-1 has an anti-proliferative effect on Hela cells and could induce apoptosis of Hela cells.