Abstract: Objective To screen the natural flavonoids inhibiting growth hormone adenoma GH3 cells using the high-content screening(HCS) technology, and explore their mechanism of action.Methods After treated with 13 natural flavonoids for 24 and 48 h, the growth morphology and proliferation activity of GH3 cells were determined by HCS. Simultaneously, the apoptosis ratios of GH3 induced by natural flavonoids were detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI. Apoptosis of GH3 cells induced by compounds were detected by flow cytometry.Results Allylisothiocyante screened from 13 natural flavonoids could effectively inhibit the proliferation of GH3 cells in a time-dependent manner and induced apoptosis of GH3 cells dose-dependently.Conclusion High-content screening technology is a powerful tool and reliable method for screening drugs via tracking the in vitro antitumor function of drugs in the morphological changes and proliferation of GH3 cells. The compound allylisothiocyante screening by HCS inhibited the proliferation of GH3 cells through inducing cell apoptosis.

Key words: high-content screening technology, drug screening, allylisothiocyante, growth hormone adenoma GH3 cells, proliferation