Abstract: TCSs are compounds of anticancer medicine, including three kinds of Chinese traditional herbs. The TCSs effect of inhibition on human hepatoma cell line 7721 was determined by adopting the following four methods: MTT colorimetry experiment, multicellular tumor spheroid(MTS), measure of the cell's growth curve, and observation of the tumor cell's configuration. The results indicated that the herb obviously lowered proliferation of the tumor cell with the inhibitory rate as high as 70 %. Furthermore, the herb efficiently diminished the volume of the cell's globe or disjoint it. Finally, the cell's configuration was changed greatly by the herb. These inhibitory effects probably infer one of the mechanisms of the killing effect of TCSs on hepatoma cells.

Key words: TCSs, human liver cancer cell, multicellular tumor spheroid, MTT colorimetry, growth curve