Abstract

The anti proliferative effect of ergosterol (5,7, 22-ergostatrien-3b-ol) was studied, it is a type of plant sterol ,which are present in two main forms, free and esterifies. MTT assay showed that the ergosterol had marked cytotoxic activity in Hep2 cancer cells. We observed the higher concentrations (40, 80,160 and 320 μM/mL) of ergosterol treatment significantly showed increased cytotoxicity in Hep2 cells. The IC50 value was found to be 40 μM/mL of ergosterol could greatly inhibit the cell growth. So, we have chosen at 40 and 320 μM/mL concentration of ergosterol for further experiments. We observed increased levels of Lipid peroxidation and decreased levels of anti oxidants (SOD, CAT, GPx, and GSH) in Hep2 cell line, because of the pro oxidant mechanism of ergosterol. Present results showed that the treatment of Hep2 cells with 320 μM/mL of ergosterol significantly increased levels of TBARS and decreased enzymatic and non enzymatic levels when compared to other doses. These observations revealed the cytotoxic potential of ergosterol, which could be attributed to their pro-oxidant property on the Hep2 cells. It is evident from the observation made in the present study that the ergosterol has potential anticancer effect.

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