Abstract:Objective To investigate the effect of peimine on cell proliferation of human leukemia K562 cells and the function of redox imbalance in this progress. Methods The human leukemia K562 cells were cultured in vitro. After K562 cells were treated with peimine at concentrations of 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 μmol/L for 24 h, the cell proliferation was measured by thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. And the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of peimine was calculated using the Bliss method. The changes of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glutathione (GSH) concentration were detected using spectrophotometry. Results Peimine inhibited the proliferation of K562 cells in a dose-dependent manner. And the IC50 of peimine was 238 μmol/L. Furthermore, peimine could promote the ROS production and glutathione (GSH) depletion. The balance of oxidation-antioxidation function destroyed. Pre-incubation with antioxidants GSH or N acetyl cysteine (NAC) almost abolished the effects of peimine. Conclusion The present study therefore shows that peimine inhibits the proliferation activity in K562 cells. The redox imbalance may play a key role in this process.