Abstract

To observe the inhibitory effect of plumbagin on the invasion and migration of glioma cells U-118 and to explore the possible mechanism of its action. U-118 cells were cultured in medium with different concentrations of plumbagin and the cells were counted and morphological changes were observed under the microscope after 24 h of incubation and the cell proliferation was detected by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, the effect of plumbagin on cell migration was detected by cell scratching assay and the effect of cell invasion was detected by Transwell method. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2, matrix metalloproteinase-9 and p21 protein. The results showed that the morphology of U-118 cells could be changed by plumbagin and it was dependent on the concentration; 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide results showed that plumbagin significantly inhibited the growth of U-118 cells and its inhibitory ability was positively correlated with the concentration; scratch assay results showed that the planar motility of cells decreased significantly with the increase of plumbagin concentration; Transwell Western blotting results showed that plumbagin administration could inhibit the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 proteins in U-118 cells, but significantly increased the expression of P21 and there was a positive correlation with the concentration. Plumbagin can inhibit the proliferation of U-118 cells and suppress cell invasion and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase-2, matrix metalloproteinase-9 and p21 expression.