Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

In vitro anti-gastric tumor activities and possible mechanisms of action of paederosidic acid from Paederia scandens (Lour) Merrill

Li-lin Chen¹, Ru Zeng¹, Yan-zhen Zhuang²

¹Department of Medical Oncology; ²Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361001, China.

For correspondence:- Yan-zhen Zhuang Email: yzhenzhuang@163.com

Received: 2 December 2014 Accepted: 16 April 2015 Published: 26 May 2015

Citation: Chen L, Zeng R, Zhuang Y. In vitro anti-gastric tumor activities and possible mechanisms of action of paederosidic acid from Paederia scandens (Lour) Merrill. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(5):795-800 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i5.8

© 2015 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the anti-tumor activity and explore the possible mechanisms of action of paederosidic acid isolated from Paederia scandens (Lour.) Merrill.

Methods: Paederosidic acid (PA) was isolated from P. scandens and identified by spectroscopic methods. The cytotoxic effects of PA in gastric cancer cell lines (MGC-803, BGC-823, and SGC-7901 cells) were assayed using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). Apoptosis of PA in SGC-7901 cells was evaluated by DAPI staining. To investigate the possible mechanisms of apoptosis, the effect of PA on C-caspase-3, C-caspase-9, Bcl-2 and Bax expressions in SGC-7901 cells were assayed by Western blot analysis.

Results: PA exerted significant inhibitory effects on MGC-803, BGC-823, and SGC-7901 cells with 50 % inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 42.2, 43.7, and 30.5 μM, respectively, and in a concentration-dependent manner. Subsequently, SGC-7901 cells were selected for further studies. After treatment with PA, obvious condensation of the nucleus was observed in fluorescence photomicrographs, which is a characteristic of apoptosis. In addition, caspase-3, caspase-9 proteins and Bax were significantly up-regulated (p < 0.05), whereas Bcl-2 was significantly down-regulated (p < 0.05) by PA in a concentration-dependent manner.

Conclusion: PA has significant anti-tumor activity on SGC-7901 cells in vitro, and the possible mechanism of action may be related to PA-induced apoptosis via mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway.

Keywords: Paederosidic acid, Paederia scandens, Anti-tumor activity, Apoptosis, Gastric cancer