Abstract: Objective To determine the in vitro effects of the traditional Chinese medicines, berberine, matrine and baicalin, on the proliferation and lipid synthesis of human immortalized sebocyte SZ95, and to investigate their possible mechanisms of action on sebaceous glands at the cellular level. Methods Inverted microscopy was used to observe cell morphology and determine toxic concentrations of the compounds. The MTT method was adopted to examine the effects of different concentrations of berberine, matrine and baicalin on SZ95 cell proliferation after 24 h, 48 h and 72 h of incubation. Lipid contents in the SZ95 cells were labeled with Nile red and analyzed by flow cytometry. Results The toxic concentrations were 1×10^-3mol/L, 1×10^-4mol/L, 1×10^-3mol/L for baicalin, berberine and matrine, respectively. Berberine reduced sebocyte proliferation in a dose-and time-dependent manner, with an inhibitory concentration 50 (IC50) of 2.9×10^-5mol/L and 1.4×10^-5mol/L after 48 h and 72 h of incubation, respectively. When the concentration of matrine was <1×10^-3mol/L or baicalin <5×10^-4mol/L, no effect was observed on SZ95 cell proliferation after 48h of incubation. On the other hand, after 48h of incubation, lipid synthesis showed a 30.1% decrease by 1×10^-4mol/L baicalin (P<0.05) and a 7.8% decrease by 1×10^-5mol/L berberine (P>0.05). Lipogenesis of SZ95 cells showed a 26.9% increase with 1×10^-3mol/L matrine. Conclusions Our Results indicate that berberine and baicalin can inhibit proliferation and lipid synthesis of SZ95 sebocytes in vitro, which suggests a possible clinical role in treating acne.

Key words: Berberine, Baicalin, Sophocarpidine, Sebaceous glands, Cells,cultured