Abstract: Objective To study the effects of Lithium chloride（LiCl） on inhibition of the proliferation of human SMMC-7721 cells and the growth of Tumor in hepatocarcinoma-bearing mice. Methods Using MTT assay to detect anti- proliferation effect of Lithium chloride on SMMC-7721 cells, applying Flow cytometry（FCM） to observe whether Lithium chloride can induce apoptosis in SMMC-7721 cells or not；mouse hepatocellular carcinoma cells H₂₂ were subcutaneously injected into KM mice to establish animal model of hepatocarcinoma-bearing mice,and LiCl were administered to the tumor-bearing mice；the kinetics of tumor formation and tumor growth were measured,and tumor growth inhibition rate was calculated；Tumor tissue samples were taken and examined to assess the inhibitory effect of LiCl on tumor growth in the mice. Results LiCl could significantly prevent the proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells and showed concentration dependency. It could also induce apoptosis in SMMC-7721 cells；Marked inhibitory effect of LiCl on transplanted hepatocellular carcinoma H₂₂ was observed in the tumor-bearing mice, the inhibitory rates were 50.0% and 60.7% in the groups treated with middle and high dosage of LiCl. Apoptotic cells and apoptotic bodies were observed in the groups treated by LiCl under the electron microscope. Conclusion LiCl had marked inhibitory effect on the proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells and the tumor growth of hepatocarcinoma-bearing mice which was probably related to induction of apoptosis.

Key words: Lithium chloride, SMMC-7721 cells, Hepatocarcinoma-bearing mice, Inhibition