Figure 1. Sesamol inhibited cell viability, induced cell cycle arrest, and stimulated intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis in HepG2 cells.

Cells were treated with sesamol at the indicated concentrations for 24 h. (A) Viability changes of HepG2 cells and BRL-3A cells after various concentration of sesamol treatment; (B) Sesamol potently inhibited colony formation of HepG2 cells. Cells were seeded into 6-well plates. After incubation for 24 h, cells were subjected to treatments with serial concentrations of sesamol. After 8 days of incubation, the numbers of colony formation were photographed in the methods. (C) Flow cytometric analysis to detect cell cycle. After sesamol treatment, HepG2 cells were harvested and the distribution of cell cycle was exhibited by flow cytometric analysis. (D) Representative western blots of expressions of intrinsic apoptotic proteins: Bcl-2, Bax, cytochrome c, cleaved-caspase-3, PARP, and extrinsic apoptotic proteins: Fas, FasL, Bid, tBid, procaspase 8. Data presented as mean ± SD, n ≥ 6 wells per group, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 versus blank treatment group.