Antiproliferative effect of apigenin: A flavonoid in sarcoma 180 cell line

Abstract

Apigenin is a common dietary flavonoid that has been used as a traditional medicine for centuries for their promising pharmacological properties as antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory etc. Currently, investigation and recognition of apigenin as a cancer chemopreventive agent has increased. Hence the present study was aimed to investigate the ability of apigenin to inhibit cell proliferation in sarcoma 180 cell line. Effect on cell viability, changes in the total cellular glutathione, lipid peroxides and sialic acid levels were observed to study the antiproliferative effect of apigenin at three different dose levels with plumbagin as a positive control and DMSO as a negative control. In this study, the flavonoid apigenin significantly inhibited the cellular proliferation in a dose dependent manner. Effective inhibition of cell viability, decrease in glutathione, sialic acid levels and increase in lipid peroxides supported the antiproliferative effect of apigenin and proved that, the apigenin could be used as a natural cancer chemopreventive agent to control cancer cell proliferation.