Morphological evaluation of apoptosis induced by salicylates in HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma cells

Salicylates are a group of phenolic compounds that are found naturally in plants. They exert anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptosis activities. Three salicylates (acetyl salicylic acid, ASA; acetyl salicylate calcium, ASCa and salicylate calcium, SACa) were tested in human fibrosarcoma cells for their apoptotic activities in HT-1080 cells using both biochemical and morphological approaches. Salicylates-treated HT-1080 cells exhibited typical apoptotic features, including membrane blebbing, shrinkage of the cell and fragmentation into apoptotic bodies. The effects of the DNA labelling agent, BrdU, resulted in more rounder smaller and a smooth membrane in HT-1080 cells. These salicylate compounds demonstrated anti-proliferation and reduced the metabolic activities of HT-1080 cells by time- and concentration-dependent manners.