Abstract: AIM: To observe the effective mechanism of Fuzhengyiliu Fang(FZF) in the treatment of prostate cancer in vitro.METHODS: Serum of high, medium, low doses of FZF and control groups were prepared by serum pharmacology methods, human prostate cancer PC-3 cells applied as an experiment model, this study observed morphology, inhibition rate of cell proliferation, cell cycle and cell apoptosis of PC-3 cells affected by different doses and concentrations of FZF serum.RESULTS: After treated with FZF serum, PC-3 cells were found in different degrees of cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation, or nuclear condensation and fragmentation; MTT experiment showed FZF serum obviously restrained cell proliferation, and the higher the concentration, the higher the rate of inhibition, 20% high-dose FZF containing serum group inhibited cell proliferation about 50%; flow cytometry detected that after treated 48 h, different sizes of the apoptotic peak had appeared before the diploid peak (G₁) of non-apoptotic PC-3 cells, and the apoptosis rate of all treated groups were significantly higher than the control group, the proportion of G₀/G₁ phase cells increased, S and G₂/M phase cells decreased.CONCLUSION: FZF serum can inhibit proliferation of PC-3 cells in dose, concentration-dependent trend, this activity may be related with its effect of inducing tumor cell apoptosis, which provide an important experimental basis for the clinical treatment of prostate cancer with FZF.

Key words: Fuzhengyiliu fang, Serum pharmacology, PC-3 cell