Anticancer Activity Study Of Paeoniflorin Ag(I) Complexes Against Human Hepatoma Cells 3b Cells

A new paeoniflorin Ag(I) complex was synthesized using the hydrothermal method, which was characterized by some spectral techniques like elemental analysis, thermal analysis, H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (H-1 NMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and geometry optimization. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to test the in vitro cytotoxicity of the paeoniflorin Ag(I) complexes in various cells (such as A549, Caco2, HepG2, Hep3B, LO2, H9C2 and PC12 cells). It is shown that the paeoniflorin Ag(I) complexes possessed a remarkable cytotoxicity against the Hep3B cell line, but a low cytotoxicity against the LO2 cell line. Cell cycle progression and membrane potential of Hep3B cells were studied using flow cytometry, and the cell examination of apoptosis was made by Annexin V-FITC/PI staining. Moreover, expressions levels of caspase family proteins and Bcl-2 were also investigated. Our findings demonstrated that the paeoniflorin Ag(I) complexes induced apoptosis of Hep3B cells via the mitochondrial membrane potential access by regulating Bcl-2 and caspase family proteins.