Apoptosis induced by emodin is associated with alterations of intracellular acidification and reactive oxygen species in EC-109 cells

作者：Wang Q J; Cai X B; Liu M H; Hu H; Tan X J; Jing X B^*

来源：Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 2010, 88(4): 767-774.

DOI：10.1139/O10-020

• emodin
• EC-109 cells
• intracellular acidification
• reactive oxygen species
• apoptosis

Emodin (1.3.8-trihydroxy-6-inethylanthraciuinone), a natural anthraquinone derivative found in several herbal medicines, is highly active in suppressing the proliferation of vanous tumor cells such as breast, hepatocellular, and lung cancer cells under in vitro conditions. The mechanism of emodin-induced apoptosts in esophagus carcinoma cells, EC-109, is not completely understood In this study. EC-109 cells treated with emodin underwent rapid apoptosis as judged by morphological changes and flow cytometry analysis. The addition of emodin to EC-109 cells led to the inhibition of growth in a time- and dose-dependent manner Fluorescence measurements of cells indicated that the intracellular pH (pH,) decreased significantly by 0 47-0.78 units. The results obtained from flow cytometry suggested that bursts of reactive oxygen species took place after the application of cmodin The present study indicates that emodin may be a strong anticancer drug against esophagus cancer cells by causing various early events leading to growth inhibition, including the production of reactive oxygen species and decrease of pH,, which may result in cellular apoptosis.

• 出版日期2010-8
• 单位汕头大学