After 24 h of treatment, the BBR-induced apoptotic rate was greater than that in the non-treated control cells (Figure 2A). Similar results were obtained in an additional NSCLC cell line PC9 cells (not shown). Meanwhile, the effect

of BBA on apoptosis of A549 cells were also tested using Hoechst 33258 staining under fluorescence microscopy. We observed the apoptotic morphologic changes as compared to the control group. The Selleck RG-7388 BBR-treated cells showed marked granular apoptotic bodies (Figure 2B). Together, the results above suggested that BBR induced apoptosis in NSCLC cells. Figure 2 Berberine induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells. A, A549 cells were treated with increased concentrations of BBR for 24 h. Afterwards, cells were harvested for analysis of apoptosis using the Annexin V-FITC/PI Apoptosis Detection Kit as detailed BYL719 molecular weight in Materials selleck products and Methods Section. The AB3 quardrant (annexin V-/PI-), AB4 quadrant (annexin V+/PI-) and AB2 quadrant (annexin V+/PI+) of the histograms

indicated the percentage of normal cells, early apoptosis and late apoptosis, respectively. Data are expressed as a percentage of total cells. Values in bar graphs were given as the mean ± SD from three independent experiments performed in triplicate. *indicates significant difference as compared very to the untreated control group (P < 0.05). B, Apoptotic nuclear morphology changes induced by BBR treatment for 48 h were observed by Hoechst 33258 staining in A549 cells. Panel showed Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining. Arrows indicate chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation (×100 magnification). Fluorescence images were taken after Hochest 33258 staining. BBR increased the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and ERK1/2 in a time-dependent fashion ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK signaling pathways were involved in apoptosis and cell growth depending on the cell type and stimuli. We showed

that BBR increased the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK in a time-dependent fashion (Figure 3A-B). Note that the expression of total ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK proteins had no significant changes after BBR treatment. Similar results were obtained in an additional NSCLC cell line PC9 cells (not shown). Figure 3 Berberine increased the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and ERK1/2 in a time-dependent manner. A-B, A549 cells were treated with BBR (25 μM) in the indicated times, and cell lysate was harvested and the expression of the phosphorylated or total protein of ERK1/2, p38 MAPK were measured by Western blot analysis using corresponding antibodies. GAPDH was used as loading control. The bar graphs represented the densitometry results of p-ERK (A) or p38 MAPK (B)/GAPDH as mean ± SD of at least three separate experiments.