Experimental study on the inhibitory effects of verapamil on the proliferation of meningiomas cells.

In order to investigate the effects of verapamil on the proliferation of meningiomas cells in vitro and in vivo, the cultured meningiomas cells were cultured with verapamil at different concentrations for 24 h and the inhibitory effects of verapamil on cell proliferation were observed by MTT method. The meningiomas model was established by implanting the newly removed tumor fragments into the nude mice subcutaneously. The nude mice with tumors were divided into two groups: verapamil-treated group and control group. Tumor volumes were measured and after 12 weeks the tumors were taken out and examined histologically. The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in the tumors was detected by using immunohistochemistry. It was found that verapamil could inhibit the growth of cultured meningiomas cells in a concentration-dependant manner. The inhibitory effect could be observed in the concentration of 1 micromol/L verapamil and the most obvious effects appeared in the concentration of 100 micromol/L. Tumor volume in the verapamiltreated group was obviously smaller than that in the control group (211.40+/-5.50 vs 163.94+/-3.62, P<0.01) and the expression of PCNA was also lower (1.52+/-0.24 vs 2.86+/-0.53, P<0.05). Tumor inhibition rate was about 22.45%. It was suggested that verapamil could inhibit the proliferation and growth of meningiomas cells in vitro and in vivo.