title: [Investigation on inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing effects of saponins from Tribulus terrestris on hepatoma cell line BEL-7402].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing effects of saponins from Tribulus terrestris (STT) on liver cancer cell line BEL-7402.
  
  
  METHODS
  MTT, SRB, Wright staining, acridine orange staining, flow cytometry, and Immunofluorescence microscopy were used to evaluate the effects of STT on BEL-7402 cell line.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SMT had potent inhibitory effect on BEL-7402 cell line in a concentration-dependent manner. BEL-7402 cells exibited typical morphological alteration of apoptosis when sub-G1 peak could be seen. The expression of Bcl-2 was decreased in STT treated cells as compared with untreated control cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  STT exerts its cytotoxic effect on BEL-7402 cells by inducing apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Life Science School, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Wei-jing
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Xiao-ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Huang-jian
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xiu-yuan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D012503:Saponins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D032444:Tribulus / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012503:Saponins