Abstract: Objective: To study the effect of berbamine (BBM) on the proliferation and cell cycle of retinoblastoma HXO-RB44 cell . Methods: HXO-RB44 cells were cultured and passaged. HXO-RB44 were treated for 24,48 and 72 h with BBM at concentrations of 2,4,8,16 and 32μg/ml，respectively.The proliferation of HXO-RB44 cells was detect by MTT. HXO-RB44 were treated with BBM at concentrations of 4, 8, and 16μg/ml,and collected at 24h . Flow cytometry was used to detect the cell cycle using PI labeled. Results: Berbamine could obviously inhibit the proliferation of HXO-RB44 cells compared with the control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) in a time- and dose-dependent manners.The IC50 value at 24,48 and 72h were 25.26, 10.94 and 6.25μg/ml, respectively. G0/G1 phase of control group and BBM treated group were (70.60±1.70)%, (46.43±0.81)%,(46.03±0.29)% and（42.77±2.44)%, respectively. S phase of control group and BBM treated group were (18.90±1.28)%, (20.53±2.50)%, (17.93±0.55 )% and (19.10±2.60)%, respectively. G2/M phase of control group and BBM treated group were (10.48±0.97)%,(33.07±1.64)%,(36.03±0.64)% and(38.13±0.35)%,respectively.There was a significant difference in G0/G1 and G2/M compared with the control group (P <0.01).Conclusion: Berbamine can inhibit the proliferation of HXO-RB44 cell and induce cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase ,which suggests that berbamine may be an effective anti-retinoblastoma drug.

Key words: Berbamine, Retinoblastoma , Proliferation , Cell cycle