title: Antiproliferation and cell apoptosis inducing bioactivities of constituents from Dysosma versipellis in PC3 and Bcap-37 cell lines.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, interest in phytochemicals from traditional Chinese medicinal herbs with the capability to inhibit cancer cells growth and proliferation has been growing rapidly due to their nontoxic nature. Dysosma versipellis as Bereridaceae plants is an endemic species in China, which has been proved to be an important Chinese herbal medicine because of its biological activity. However, systematic and comprehensive studies on the phytochemicals from Dysosma versipellis and their bioactivity are limited.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen compounds were isolated and characterized from the roots of Dysosma versipellis, among which six compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time. The inhibitory activities of these compounds were investigated on tumor cells PC3, Bcap-37 and BGC-823 in vitro by MTT method, and the results showed that podophyllotoxone (PTO) and 4'-demethyldeoxypodophyllotoxin (DDPT) had potent inhibitory activities against the growth of human carcinoma cell lines. Subsequent fluorescence staining and flow cytometry analysis indicated that these two compounds could induce apoptosis in PC3 and Bcap-37 cells, and the apoptosis ratios reached the peak (12.0% and 14.1%) after 72 h of treatment at 20 μM, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that most of the compounds from the roots of D. versipellis could inhibit the growth of human carcinoma cells. In addition, PTO and DDPT could induce apoptosis of tumor cells.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China. songbaoan22@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoqiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiuhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Linhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Pinaki S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Bhadury
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Deyu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Baoan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang