Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anticancer activity of pinobanksin-3-acetate (PB3A) on human hepatoma cell line HepG-2 and normal hepatocyte cell line L02.The effect of different concentrations of PB3A for different durations on the proliferation of the cell line HepG-2 and L02 were analyzed by MTT assay.The morphological changes of HepG-2 and L02 cells were observed by the inverted photo microscopy after treatment with different concentrations of PB3A for different durations.The apoptotic rate was measured by flow cytometry.MTT assay showed that PB3A inhibited the growth of HepG-2 and L02 cells in a dose and time dependent manner,in the same incubation time,the IC₅₀ values of HepG-2 cells were lower than L02 cells.FCM results indicated that PB3A induced the apoptosis of HepG-2 cells and L02 cells in a dose-depended manner.In the same concentration of PB3A,the early apoptotic rate of HepG-2 cells was higher than L02 cells.In conclusion,PB3A can inhibit human hepatoma HepG-2 cells and hepatocyte L02 cells through induction of apoptosis.Higher sensitivity to PB3A were found in HepG-2 cells than L02 cells.

Key words: PB3A, HepG-2 and L02, proliferation, apoptosis