Primary investigation on effects of Pinus massoniana bark extract inducing senescence of hepatoma HepG2 cells

Abstract

Pinus massoniana bark extract (PMBE) is a traditional Chinese medicine used for the treatment of various health disorders. Previous studies have demonstrated that PMBE may induce the apoptosis of hepatoma and colon cancer cells, and one of the potential mechanisms is by activating p53 to up-regulate the expression of p21. The P53/P21 signaling pathway is also one of the main mechanisms to regulate cell senescence. Therefore, we wonder if PMBE is able to induce hepatoma cells into senescence by inhibiting their growth. In the current study, the effects of PMBE on the viability of human hepatoma HepG2 cells were detected using an MTT assay. The phenotypes of HepG2 cells with PMBE treatment were detected with β-Galactosidase staining assay. The results revealed that the growth of HepG2 cells was inhibited by PMBE at dose-dependent manner when PMBE concentration is above 50 µg/ml, furthermore, PMBE could induce HepG2 cells into senescence at concentration of 40 µg/ml. These findings indicated that PMBE significantly inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells and induced them into senescence, while the potential mechanism and its safety in normal cells require further investigation.