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Objective: To observe the effects of arecoline on lipid metabolism in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and explore its possible mechanisms., Methods: 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes were induced into adipocytes with the classic "cocktail" method, subsequently, adipocytes were treated with arecoline at the concentrations of 0, 25, 50 and 100 μ mol/L for 72 hours. After 72 hours, cell vability was measured with MTT method, lipid droplet accumulation in the cytoplasm was observed with oil red O staining, the protein expression of fatty acid synthase (FAS), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) were detected by Western blot assay., Results: There were a large number of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm in the differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes. MTT results showed that 0~100 μ mol/L arecoline had no significant effect on cell vability; oil red O staining found arecoline reduced lipid amount in 3T3-L1 adipocytes; Western blot results showed that compared with 0 μ mol/L arecoline group (the control group), arecoline significantly reduced the protein level of FAS and increased the protein levels of ATGL and HSL, and 50 μ mol/L arecoline group was the most significant., Conclusions: Arecoline significantly increased lipolysis of 3T3-L1 adipocyte, which might be associated with decreased the FAS expression of key enzyme of lipid synthesis and increased the ATGL and HSL expression of key enzyme of adipolysis.

Objective: To observe the effects of arecoline on proliferation and apoptosis of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells and to ex-plore its possible mechanism., Methods: Human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were treated with arecoline at the concentrations of 0,10,30,50, 100,300,500 μ mol/L, the cell proliferation were detected by MTT assay, cell apoptosis were analyzed by Hoechst 33342 staining and flow cy-tometry, the protein expression of Bax,Bcl-2 and P53 were detected by Western blot., Results: Low concentration(0,10,30, 50 μ mol/L) arecoline had no effect on the proliferation and apoptosis of MCF-7. However, high concentration(100,300,500 μ mol/L) arecoline inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis of MCF-7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, arecoline also significantly increased P53 and Bax protein expression and decreased Bcl-2 protein expression., Conclusions: High concentration arecoline inhibited the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of MCF-7 cells, the mechanism was probably corrected with increasing P53 and Bax protein expression and decreasing Bcl-2 pro-tein expression.