The inhibitory effects of γ-tocotrienol on human colon carcinoma HT-29 cells in vitro

To investigate the inhibitory effects and induction of apoptosis on human colon carcinoma cells (HT-29) from γ-tocotrienol, the effect of γ-tocotrienol on cell viability has been investigated by 3-(4.5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method, mitotic index, colony forming experiment and morphological observation; apoptosis has been measured by Hoechst33258 fluorescent staining to observe the morphological observation of apoptosis and DNA ladder to detect DNA damage. The results showed that γ-tocotrienol could obviously inhibit the proliferation of HT-29 cells (P<0.05) with dose-dependent manner. The 50% inhibitory concentration was 35.45 μmol /L (48 h). Morphology observation and DNA ladder showed that γ-tocotrienol could induce apoptosis. The results indicated that γ-tocotrienol can inhibit the growth of human colon carcinoma HT-29 cells through apoptosis induction.