AIM: To evaluate hesperidin's inhibitory effect on the proliferation of human pterygium fibroblasts(HPF)cultured in vitro and its influence on the expression of cyclin D.

METHODS: The fresh tissue of human pterygium was cultivated by adherent cell culture in vitro and adherent cells were appraised by immune fluorescence staining. HPF cells were treated with hesperidin(24μmol/L, 48μmol/L, 64μmol/L, 72μmol/L, 96μmol/L, 120μmol/L)and MMC(1.5μmol/L, 7.5μmol/L and 30.0μmol/L). The inhibition rate of cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay 24h, 48h and 72h after treatment, and appropriate concentration and time were selected. The relative expression of cyclin D in HPF was detected by Western blot.

RESULTS: When HPF were treated respectively with hesperidin(48μmol/L, 72μmol/L)and MMC(7.5μmol/L)for 48h, Western blot results showed the relative expressions of cyclin D in blank control group(normal culture), MMC group, hesperidin(48μmol/L)group and hesperidin(72μmol/L)group to be 1.20±0.02, 0.60±0.03, 0.54±0.02, 0.45±0.07(F=73.025, P=0.001)respectively. The relative expressions of cyclin D in MMC group and hesperidin group were lower than that of blank control group(P<0.05); while the relative expressions of cyclin D in MMC group and hesperidin(48μmol/L, 72μmol/L)group showed no significant difference(P>0.05).

CONCLUSION:Hesperidin can inhibit the proliferation of HPF by reducing the relative expression of cyclin D.