Abstract: AIM: To study the effects of isoliquiritig-enin (ISL) liposome on the proliferation of human cervical cancer cells in vitro. METHODS: ISL liposome was prepared by filmultrasonic technique. The liposome and free ISL were separated by Sephadex G-25 exclusion chro-matography and the encapsulation rates were determined. The growth inhibitive effects on cell proliferation were evaluated by trypan blue exclusion and MTT method. RESULTS: The particle size of ISL liposome was 233.1 nm and the span was 0.74. The encapsulation rate was (70.83±2.5) % and the liposome was stable. ISL lipo-some (5-80μmol·L^-1) inhibited the proliferation of hu-man cervical cancer cells in a concentration-and time-dependent manner, and the inhibitive rates of HeLa and SiHa cells reached the maximum at d 3 of culture (the maximum inhibitive rate was 83.44% and 96.14%). The IC₅₀ of HeLa and SiHa cells which were exposed to ISL liposome for 48 h was 34.24 and 29.82 μmol·L^-1, respectively, and which were exposed to free ISL for 48 h was 75,39 and 69.33 μmol·L^-1, respectively. CONCLUSION: This formulation and technology are stable and practical. The ISL liposome can significantly inhibit the proliferation of human cervical cancer cells in vitro.

Key words: ISL liposome, encapsulation efficiency, MTT method, SiHa cells, HeLa cells