Le-Qiang Wang1,
De-Feng Hua2,
Xiao-Meng Li1,
Juan Li1,
Yun Guan1
1Department of Respiratory, Weifang People’s Hospital;
2Department of Neurology, Brain Hospital of Weifang People’s Hospital, Weifang 261599, China.
For correspondence:- Yun Guan
Email: guanyun885@gmail.com Tel:+865368192599
Received: 6 January 2015
Accepted: 29 June 2015
Published: 30 August 2015
Citation:
Wang L, Hua D, Li X, Li J, Guan Y.
Salvianolic acid-A induces apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential loss and DNA damage in small cell lung cancer cell lines. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(8):1399-1404
doi:
10.4314/tjpr.v14i8.11
© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Abstract
Purpose: To examine the anticancer effect of salvianolic acid-A against human small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells (H-69).
Methods: In vitro antiproliferative effect of salvianolic acid against SCLC cell lines was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Apoptosis induction by salvianolic acid-A in these cells was measured by videomicroscopy along with fluorescence microscopy using Hoechst 33258 staining. The effect of the compound on mitochondrial membrane potential loss was detected by flow cytometry using rhodamine-123 as fluorescent probe. Gel electrophoresis was used to analyze DNA fragmentation after salvianolic acid treatment.
Results: The results revealed that salvianolic acid-A induces dose-dependent as well as time-dependent growth inhibitory effects against SCLC cancer cells. Videomicroscopy analysis revealed that SCLC cells became rounded (dead) and refringent after drug treatment which increased with increase in salvianolic acid-A dose. Fluorescence microscopy demonstrated that salvianolic acid-A induced dose-dependent chromatin condensation in SCLC cells which is characteristic of apoptosis. DNA fragmentation was induced by various doses of the compound again hinting at apoptosis. Flow cytometry analysis using rhodamine-123 showed that salvianolic acid-A also caused substantial loss of mitochondrial membrane potential.
Conclusion: The results suggest that salvianolic acid-A is a potential anticancer and apoptotic agent against drug-resistant small cell lung cancer.
Keywords: Lung cancer, Apoptosis, Salvianolic acid-A, Flow cytometry, Anticancer activity, Videomicroscopy, Fluorescence microscopy, Mitochondrial membrane pote