Guochuang Chen, Pengying Zhang, Taotao Huang, Wenqian Yu, Jun Lin,Ping Li, Kaoshan Chena*

Carbohydrate Polymers 97 (2013) 800–808

ABSTRACT

In this study, we reported that polysaccharides (RPS) from the mycelia of liquid-cultured Rhizopus nigri-cans inhibited the proliferation and clonogenic potential of human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. Resultsof acridine orange/ethidium bromide and Hoechst 33258 staining showed that treated cells displayedtypical morphological characteristics of apoptosis such as condensation of chromatin, nuclear pyknosisand formation of apoptotic bodies. Flow cytometry analyses and colorimetric assay indicated that RPSinduced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis which was associated with collapse of mitochondrial mem-brane potential, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, generation of intracellular reactive oxygen speciesand elevation of intracellular calcium in BGC-823 cells. Moreover, cell-cycle analysis revealed that RPSarrested cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. These results provided further insights into the potentialuse of RPS as an anti-cancer agent against human gastric cancer.