In this study, we evaluated the anti-proliferative activity of phlorotannins derived from brown algae Laminariajaponica Aresch extracts on the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell （BEL-7402） and on routine leukemic cells （P388） by MTT assay. Cells were incubated with 100 μg/mL of the phlorotannin extract （PE） for 48 h. The inhibitory rate of PE on BEL-7402 and P388 cells was 30.20±1.16% and 43.44±1.86%, respectively, and the half-inhibitory concentration of PE （IC50） on P388 and BEL-7402 cells was 120 μg/mL and 〉200 μg/mL, respectively. Microscopic observation shows that the morphologic features of tumor cells treated with PE and 5-fluorouracil are markedly different from the normal control group. The inhibitory rate of fraction A2 isolated from PE by sephadex LH-20 for BEL-7402 and P388 cells at the sample concentration of 70.42 μg/mL was 61.96±7.02% and 40.47±8.70%, respectively. The apoptosis peak for fraction A2 was the most profound of all fractions used in the flow cytometry assay. The results indicate that the anti-proliferative of this algal extract is associated with the total phlorotannin content.
