Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 106, Issue 7 , Pages 537-547, 2007

Apoptosis and Necrosis are Involved in the Toxicity of Sauropus androgynus in an In Vitro Study

  • Shih-Fing Yu

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Tzer-Ming Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yen-Hui Chen

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Yen-Hui Chen, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, 1, Section 1, Jen-Ai Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan

Received 18 January 2007; received in revised form 31 January 2007; accepted 13 March 2007.

Article Outline

Background/Purpose

The raw juice of the young sticks and leaves of Sauropus androgynus (SA) has been widely used as a natural food for body weight reduction and vision protection in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. But as has been reported, SA-associated obliterative bronchiolitis can develop after taking SA for more than 3 months. Lung transplantation was carried out in severe cases.

Methods

To study the toxic effect, we separated the SA extract into three parts, namely CHCl3, EtOAc and n-BuOH fractions, using polarity dissection. NIH3T3 fibroblasts were treated with the SA fractions 300 μg/mL and subjected to a series of cytotoxic assays.

Results

The EtOAc fraction exhibited the strongest effect of cell growth inhibition, followed by the CHCl3 and n-BuOH fractions. Features of condensed chromatin and apoptosis were observed in cells exposed to n-BuOH and EtOAc fractions using fluorescence microscopy. Formation of DNA ladders was also observed in the above cells. Instead, the CHCl3 fraction induced DNA smearing. In bivariate dot plots of annexin V and propidium iodide double staining, necrosis and apoptosis appeared in cells treated with CHCl3 and n-BuOH fractions, respectively, and a mixed type of necrosis and apoptosis appeared in EtOAc fraction-treated cells.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that necrosis and apoptosis are involved in the toxic effect of SA in NIH3T3 fibroblasts. More evidence is needed to clarify if necrosis and apoptosis are also related to the pathogenesis of SA-associated obliterative bronchiolitis.

Key Words:  apoptosis , lung obstruction , necrosis , Sauropus androgynus

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PII: S0929-6646(07)60004-7

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(07)60004-7

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 106, Issue 7 , Pages 537-547, 2007

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