ANTITUMOR PROPERTIES OF A NEW COMPOUND OF CURCUMIN AND BERBERINE IN VITRO

Abstract Secondary plant metabolites are an important source of compounds with antitumor properties. The aim of the study was to study the antiproliferative effect of a new compound that combines the properties of the main active ingredient of turmeric extract, curcumin, with berberine obtained from the roots of Coptis chinensis Franch. The material for the study was a culture of mouse melanoma B16F10. The cells were planted 5*103 cells per well on a 96-well plate in DMEM medium (Servicebio, China) with 10% FBS (Gibco, USA). Next, a new compound was added in a series of double dilutions from 5 to 0.005 mmol/L. After 72h incubation, an MTT test was performed according to the standard procedure. Morphological changes in cells were studied in a bright field and after staining with a mixture of nuclear dyes Hoechst 33342 (Life Technologies, USA) and ethidium bromide (Servicebio, China) at a final concentration of 1 mcg/ml and 10 mcg/ml, respectively. It was shown that the IC50 of the new compound of curcumin and berberine in the B16F10 culture was 5.07±0.5 mmol/l, which is significantly higher than that of curcumin and berberine separately. An analysis of the morphological features of the culture under the action of the tested compound suggested a mechanism of antiproliferative action associated with blocking the passage of the cell cycle, but different from that of the two parent compounds.