the combination of berberine and methotrexate enhances anti-cancer effects in hela cancer cell line: a morphological study

Background: co-administration of two or several either chemotherapeutic agents or conventional drugs as a combination treatment is the most effective method to increase therapeutic efficiency. additive or synergistic influence are two mechanisms by which combination therapy causes a rise in optimal cancer therapy compared to a single treatment. methods: colorimetric assay was carried out to estimate the cytotoxicity of the combined system, followed by apoptosis assay to calculate the number of apoptotic cells. both 4′,6-diamidino2-phenylindole (dapi) staining and dna ladder were complemented tests to illuminate morphological changes and dna fracturing on hela cancer cells. results: we revealed that the combination of berberine (ber) and methotrexate (mtx) could inhibit the growth of hela cancer cells noticeably. nevertheless, single ber and mtx were not as effective as a combined system to reduce cell viability at the same dose. regarding the apoptosis induction and change in morphology of cancer cells’ nucleus, co-treatment of berand mtx was more effective. the result was complemented with flow cytometry, dapi staining and dna ladder, which showed that ber+mtx depicted more anti-cancer effects. conclusion: the combination therapy of hela cancer cells with ber and mtx showed high inhibition effect compared to other treated groups.