title: Extraction and purification of total flavonoids from pine needles of Cedrus deodara contribute to anti-tumor in vitro.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cedrus deodara is one of the traditional Chinese medicinal herbs that exhibits a line of biological activities. The current study extracted the total flavonoids from the pine needles of Cedrus deodara (TFPNCD), and investigated its anti-cancer effects in tumor cell lines.
  
  
  METHODS
  The total flavonoids was extracted from pine needles of Cedrus deodara by ethanol hot refluxing and purified by HPD722 macroporous resin. The contents of total flavonoids and the active ingredients of TFPNCD were analyzed through UV and HPLC. MTT assay was used to investigate its inhibitory effect on tumor cell lines. The flow cytometry was employed to determine the apoptosis and cell cycle distribution after treated TFPNCD on HepG2 cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TFPNCD, in which the contents of total flavonoid reached up to 54.28 %, and the major ingredients of myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin in TFPNCD were 1.89, 2.01, 2.94 and 1.22 mg/g, respectively. The MTT assays demonstrated that TFPNCD inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner, with the IC50 values of 114.12 μg/mL. By comparison, TFPNCD inhibited the proliferation to a less extent in human cervical carcinoma HeLa, gastric cancer MKN28 cells, glioma SHG-44 cells and lung carcinoma A549 than HepG2 cells. We found that even at the lower doses, the total flavonoids effectively inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells. Comparison of IC50 values implicated that HepG2 cells might be more sensitive to the treatment with total flavonoids. TFPNCD was able to increase the population of HepG2 cells in G0 /G1 phase. Meanwhile, TFPNCD treatment increased the percentage of apoptotic HepG2 cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggested that TFPNCD might have therapeutic potential in cancer through the regulation of cell cycle and apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Gansu Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, 730050, China. shixiaofeng2005@sina.com.|Key Laboratory of TCM Pharmacology and Toxicology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730030, China. shixiaofeng2005@sina.com.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Gansu Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, 730050, China.
authors.forename: Dongyan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Junmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of TCM Pharmacology and Toxicology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730030, China.
authors.forename: Pengbin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Gansu Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, 730050, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Gansu Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, 730050, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Gansu Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, 730050, China.
authors.forename: Quhuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Gansu Provincial Academy of Medical Sciences, Lanzhou, 730050, China.
authors.forename: Xindi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D028203:Cedrus / Q000737:chemistry*; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005419:Flavonoids; D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Anti-tumor activity; Cancer cell lines; Pine needles of Cedrus deodara; Total flavonoids