The Preliminary Study of Induced Differentiation of Total Saponins of Panax Ginseng on Human Hepatoma Cell Line

Objective To explore the induced differentiation effect o f total saponins of Panax ginseng(TSPG)on human hepatoma cell line HepG2.M ethods MTT method,light microscopy,electronic microscopy and flow cytomet ry(FCM) were used. Results Cell growth was dose dependently and signi ficantly inhibited by TSPG at the non-toxic but cytostatic concentration of 400 μg/ml.and TSPG changed the morphology of the cell into almost normal hepatocyte s .TSPG arrested the cell cycle of HepG2 cells at the S phase. Conclusion TSPG seemed to induce normal or mature properties of hepatocytes in human hep atoma cell line.