Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of Mistletoe Alkali(MA) and Mistletoe Polysaccharose(MP) on proliferation and apoptosis in hepatoma carcinoma cells. Methods In vitro experiments with mistletoe polysaccharides, and mistletoe alkali induced in hibition of SMMC-7721 and HepG2 proliferation were observed by MTT assay. The cell cycle, the rate of apoptosis and the DNA relative amount of SMMC-7721 and Hep G2 were examined by flow cytometry. The migrating changes of hepato carcinoma cell generation cycle were analyzed at every period. Results The results of in vitro experiments showed that both MA and MP could inhibit the proliferation of SMMC-7721 and Hep G2 cells, and promote their apoptosis in a time and dose-dependent manner. After treatment with the drugs, the cell population in the groups of MP and MA increased at G1 phase(81.0%, 86.9％ vs 70.0%, P<0.01 ) and decreased at G2 phase and S phase(13.1％, 5.7％vs 16.4％, P<0.01; 5.9％, 7.4％ vs 13.5％, P<0.01), in comparison with those in the controls. In addition, both of the two drugs enhanced the apoptosis of SMMC-7721 and Hep G2 cells(MP: 12.3%,11.7％ vs 6.0 ％, P<0.01; MA: 7.5%,6.7％ vs 6.0％, P<0.01). Conclusion MA and MP could inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of SMMC-7721 and Hep G2 cells.

Key words: hepatoma carcinoma cell, DNA, flow cytometry, mistletoe alkali, mistletoe polysaccharose, cell generation cycle