OBJECTIVETo investigate the apoptosis and proliferation effect of matrine on human medulloblastoma cell line D341 in vitro and the effect of the expression of the related caspase 3 and caspase 9 proteins.

METHODSThe D341 cells were cultivated successfully in vitro. Then the cells were divided into 5 groups according to the concentration of matrine (0.5 mg/mI group, 1.0 mg/ml group, 1.5 mg/ml group, 2.0 mg/ml group and the control group was 0 mg/ml). All the experiments were repeated three times. The cell morphologic and structure change was observed with the optical microscope and the transmission electron microscope. The proliferation of D341 cell was analyzed using Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Apoptosis was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining. The expression of Caspase3 and Caspase9 was detected by Western blot.

RESULTSWith the effect of matrine, the proliferation inhibition rate gradually increased with drug concentrations increasing, and there was a significant difference (P < 0.01). The inhibitory effect of matrine on cell proliferation was different with the different treatment time, there was a significant difference between the 24 h to 72 h groups (P < 0.01). The apoptotic rate increased with matrine concentrations increasing. There were significant differences between the group of 0.5 mg/mI or 1.0 mg/mI to the group of 1.5 mg/mI or 2.0 mg/mI (P < 0.05). The apoptotic rate increased with the prolonged treatment time. There were significant differences between the group of 24 h or 48 h to the group of 72 h ( P < 0.05). With the increase of matrine concentration, the expression of Caspase 3 and Caspase 9 increased (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONMatrine induces the apoptosis, and inhibits the proliferation of human medulloblastoma D341 cells in vitro by up-regulation of the expression level of Caspase3, Caspase9.