Objective To observe the effect of diosgenin （Dio） on poor differentiated adenocarcinoma （MGC-803） cells of human stomach and discuss the mechanism. Methods MTT assay was used to determine the inhibitory effect of Dio on MGC-803 cells

and to observe the influence of Dio on the ability of cell cleavage and colony formation. The method of （）

3

H-TdR was used to detect the influence of Dio on DNA synthesis of MGC-803 cells. Result It was found that Dio inhibited the growth of MGC-803 cells in a dose-time dependent manner at a certain range of concentration

and inhibited obviously the cell cleavage and colony formation. IC

50

was 13.17 μg/mL. Dio inhibited obviously DNA synthesis of MGC-803 cells.Conclusion The inhibitory effect of Dio on MGC-803 cells is related to its inhibitory effect on DNA synthesis.