title: [Study on functions and mechanism of curcumin in inducing gastric carcinoma BGC apoptosis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  discuss the biological function and regulation mechanism of curcumin in promoting human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 apoptosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Conventional in virto culture in logarithmic phase gastric carcinoma BGC-823 cells;  cells are divided into four groups:  control group,  low treatment group,  middle treatment group and high treatment group,  with curcumin concentration being 0 mg/L,  5 mg/L,  10 mg/L,  and 20 mg/L,  respectively. 24 hours after curcumin is treated,  cell proliferation level and apoptosis rate are measured with MTT colorimetry and flow cytometry,  Bax,  Bcl-2 protein expression is measured with immunohistochemistry;  mRNA of Caspase-3 is tested by means of PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MTT test indicates that curcumin can inhibit human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 cell proliferation,  showing concentration dependency;  flow cytometry shows that curcumin can effectively induce apoptosis,  showing concentration dependency,  where the apoptosis rate is 48.3% 24 hours after 20 mg/L curcumin is treated;  immunohistochemistry test shows that curcumin treatment enables Bax expression level in human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 cells to go up,  meanwhile,  the Bcl-2 protein expression level to go down,  besides,  the mRNA expression level of Caspase-3 in cells increases through induction of curcumin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Curcumin has obvious inhibitory effect on human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 cell proliferation,  showing concentration dependency to promote apoptosis. Such biological effect may be associated with activating Caspase-3 signal channel by activating Bax protein expression and inhibiting Bcl-2 protein. This study lays an important foundation for further discussing the mechanism of curcumin in inducing human gastric carcinoma BGC-823 apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Medical School, Hubei Institute for Nationalities, Enshi, China. qhb_yizhuan@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Hong-bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Jing-wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jun-min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D003474:Curcumin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D053148:Caspase 3; D003474:Curcumin