Figure 1.
Effect of the cannabinoids on cell viability, cell proliferation and cell-cycle dynamics. CEM (upper panel) and HL60 (lower panel) cells were cultured with each of the cannabinoids at a concentration equivalent to their respective IC50 value. This was 10, 20, 10, 40, 20 and 40 μM for Cannabidiol (CBD), Cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), Cannabigerol (CBG), Cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), Cannabigevarin (CBGV) and Cannabigevaric acid (CBGVA) respectively for CEM, and 10, 30, 15, 30, 30 and 50 μM for HL60 cells. Cell number and viability were assessed by cell counting using trypan blue dye discrimination. Each data point is the mean and SDs of three separate experiments. Cell cycle profiling was achieved through propidium iodide staining, which revealed no clear changes to the profiles for CEM and HL60 cells treated with the cannabinoids. This suggested a general global cell-cycle arrest. However, a clear increase in the sub-G1 population (apoptosis/necrosis) was observed in the cell lines when CBD was used at a higher concentration. Representative histograms from three independent replicates are presented.