Cytoprotective Activity of Glycyrrhizae radix Extract Against Arsenite-induced Cytotoxicity

Kim, Sang Chan; Park, Sook Jahr; Lee, Jong Rok; Seo, Jung Cheol; Yang, Chae Ha; Byun, Sung Hui

Moreover, results from an additional DNA experiment with As-exposed cells showed that As induced a typical . Increase in viability of H4IIE cells exposed to As by licorice. H4IIE cells pre-treated with licorice for 12 h and further incubated with licorice þ As (400 mM) for the next 12 h. Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. Data represent the mean AE SD of eight separate experiments. **Significant at P50.01 compared with vehicle-treated control, ***significant at P50.01 compared with the cells treated with As alone. DNA laddering effect indicating apoptotic cell death. In addition, 1.0 mg ml À1 of licorice decreased the As-induced DNA laddering (Fig. 5) . Activated/ cleaved caspase-3 is a key protein during apoptosis. As shown in Fig. 6 , 400 uM As induced cleavage of caspase-3 protein. Similar to the apoptosis data, licorice significantly reduced As-induced caspase-3 cleavage. Our results indicate that licorice may play a potent role in inhibiting As-induced apoptosis in H4IIE cells.