Fig. 10

Hypothesised pro-apoptotic mechanism of MG extract in leukemic cell lines. Due to its phenolic content and antioxidant activity, MG ethanolic extract induces a decrease of ROS intracellular level. In leukemic cell, ROS decrease has been related to FAS recruitment leading to the activation of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway. A possible explanation of the observed increase of BAX/BCL-2 ratio consists in the fact that FAS ligands lead to apoptosis through caspase-8 activation which on one hand promote the extrinsic apoptotic pathway, while on the other promote mitochondrial membrane potential loss through BAX/BCL2 ratio increase