Abstract: Purpose: To investigate how three bitter substances (limonin, nomilin and naringin) extracted from the seeds and peel of ‘Gaotai’ honey pomelo (Citrus grandis L.) impact the proliferation and apoptosis of HeLa cells. Methods: The substances were obtained and purified by ultrasonic-assisted organic solvent extraction and recrystallization and were detected by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) using an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm). Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, cell scratch assay and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to verify the anti-cancer effect of these substances at 50 μmol/L. Results: The extraction yields of limonoid and naringin were 5.21 and 7.72 mg/g, respectively. The purity of limonin, nomilin and naringin were up to 94.08%, 93.91% and 93.39%, respectively. The anti-cancer tests confirmed that the inhibition of HeLa cell growth by these bitter substances was closely related to the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation and migration.

Key words: citrus, limonin, nomilin, naringin, HeLa cells, proliferation and apoptosis