ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effects of matrine on accumulation of ? globin mRNA and induction of erythroid differentiation in K562 cells in vitro.Methods K562 cells were cultured for 6 days with different concentration of matrine,viable cell counts were determined by trypan-blue dye exdusion test. Erythroid differentiation was evaluated by percentage of benzidine-positive cells at different days after culture. Morphological changes were observed under microscope after Wright-Gimesa staining; ? globin mRNA was quantitative by real time quantitative reverse transcript polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Results Different concentrations of matrine inhibited proliferation of K562 cells in dose-dependent manner; otherwise, K562 cells were successfully induced by erythroid differentiation with matrine. After treatment with matrine, percentage of benzidine-positive cells significantly increased from 0.7% to 15.7% and characteristic changes of erythroid differentiation in the cell morphology were observed, G? globin mRNA had a preferential increase (2.7 fold)in K562 cells. Conclusions Matrine accumulation G? globin mRNA and induced erythroid differentiation of K562 cells. The results provides an experimental evidence for the pharmacological therapy of hematological diseases associated with a failure in the expression of normal ? globin genes.