APIGENIN INDUCES MORPHOLOGICAL-DIFFERENTIATION AND G2-M ARREST IN RATNEURONAL CELLS

Flavonoids are pigments of edible plants. We have recently reported th at most flavonoids induce GI arrest in human cancer cells, and that ge nistein (an isoflavone) specifically inhibits their cell cycle at G2-M phase. In the present study, apigenin (a flavone) was found to inhibi t the proliferation of B104 rat neuronal cells, and flow-cytometric an alysis showed that apigenin arrested their cell cycle at G2-M phase. T his effect was dose-dependent and reversible when apigenin was removed from the culture medium. Microscopic observation showed that apigenin induced morphological differentiation, that is, elongation and arbori zation of neurites in B104 cells. This is the first report to show tha t apigenin inhibited the proliferation of malignant tumor cells by G2- M arrest and induced morphological differentiation. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.