Anagallis arvensis Induces Apoptosis in HL-60 Cells Through ROS-Mediated Mitochondrial Pathway

Abstract

The present study was taken up to evaluate the apoptosis inducing ability of alcoholic extract of whole plant of Anagallis arvensis (AAE) in HL-60 cells. We observed time and concentration dependent decrease in cell viability after treatment with AAE. Fluorescent staining and scanning electron micrographs of treated HL-60 cells demonstrated chromatin condensation, nuclear fragmentation and formation of apoptotic blebs. There was a marked increase in hypodiploid population of cells as observed by cell cycle analysis. Annexin V-FITC/PI also depicted the presence of apoptotic cells. Anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was observed to be decreased by 62% at 20 µg/ml concentration and a significant increase in ROS production up to 6.9-fold was observed in time dependent manner. In addition, alteration in mitochondrial membrane potential was observed, which was followed by cytochrome c release to cytoplasm. Activated levels of mitochondrial downstream pathway protein namely Caspase-3 and 9, were detected in treated HL-60 cells by colorimetric analysis. DNA ladder formation, a biochemical hallmark of apoptosis was also observed in treated HL-60 cells. The results of the present study support the apoptotic potential of AAE and probability of its promising role in development as effective anticancer agent against leukemia cells.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Director, CSIR-IIIM for the constant support to carry out this work.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, India. SKA and MA are thankful to Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India for Senior Research Fellowship [10-2(5)/2K4(i)-E.U.II] and [31/2-1(65)/2K8- EMR1], respectively.