Background: There is an increasing surplus of chestnut that are abandoned due to their failure to meet customer awareness. Thus, we investigated the anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects of chestnut (Castanea crenata) inner shell extracts in hepatocarcinoma HepG2 cells as a potential source of anti-cancer materials. Methods and Results: Distilled water extract (CI-W) and ethanol extract (CI-E) were prepared from chestnut inner shell and evaluated their anti-proliferative effects in vitro. Each extract significantly decreased the cell viability of HepG2 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Indeed, the morphology of HepG2 cells treated with CI-W or CI-D was distorted to shrunken cell masses. Furthermore, it was revealed that their extracts induced cell death as evidenced by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), formation of apoptotic body and condensation. In addition, Their extracts clearly modulated the down regulated of Bcl-2 (anti-apoptoic)/ Bax (pro-apoptotic) family and cleaved caspase-3 as an effector caspase in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: These results indicate that the extracts of chestnut inner shell can be used as an anti-proliferative therapeutic agent or functional food.

• Seong Min Hong(Department of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University) | 홍성민
• Taek Hwan Lee(Department of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University AG-Health Research Center) | 이택환
• In Sook Kim(Department of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University) | 김인숙
• Young Min Lee(Department of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University) | 이영민
• Ghosh Mithun(Department of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University) | 미툰 고쉬
• Beong Ou Lim(Department of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University) | 임병우 Corresponding author