Inhibitory effects of spice extracts on the growth of human lymphoid leukemia molt 4B cells

We have investigated the inhibitory effects of 80% ethanol extracts prepared from 15 species of spice powder (tyme, nutmeg, star anis, clove, mustard, turmeric, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, black pepper, allspice, rosemary, sage, cumin and laurel) on the growth of human lymphoid leukemia Molt 4B cells. The extracts of 7 species of spice (natmeg, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper, rosemary, sage and laurel) strongly suppressed the growth of Molt 4B cells at a concentration of 50mug/ml. Especially, even at a concentration of 10mug/ml, the extracts of both turmeric and laurel showed relatively stronger inhibition than the other spice extracts, and characteristic oligosomal-sized DNA fragments devied from apoptosis were observed in the both extracts-treated cells.