Schisandrae fructus extract showed antiproliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells

Schisandrae fructus (SF) from Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. has traditionally been used to balance the level of body fluid and to strengthen kidney function. It has been reported that the SF extract has antioxidant, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective and anticancer effects. This study investigated an antiproliferative effect of SF extract on PC-3 human prostate cancer cells and analyzed active ingredients of SF extract qualitatively and quantitatively. We examined the antiproliferative effect of SF extract with MTT assay, DAPI staining and annexin-V/7-AAD double staining. The active ingredients of SF extract were identified by using HPTLC and HPLC/DAD. A SF-chloroform fraction inhibited growth of PC-3 cells and changed the morphology of nuclei in a dose dependent manner. A dose-dependent apoptotic cell death was also measured by flow cytometry analysis. The SF-chloroform fraction contained more schizandrin than other fractions. These results suggest that the SF extract and schizandrin may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for the control of PC-3 human prostate cancer cells.

Fig. 1: Induction of apoptosis by SF-chloroform fraction in PC-3 cells. PC-3 cells were treated with SF-chloroform fraction (30, 60, 120 µg/ml) for 48h. (A) Annexin-V/7-AAD double staining assay detected by flow cytometry. (B) The percentage of apoptotic cell for each treatment group. Values represent mean ± S.D. of three independent experiments (significant as compared to control, * p < 0.05).