野生刺莧在台灣傳統上被做?抗糖尿病草藥使用，本研究則在評估野生刺莧水萃物對小鼠初代脾臟細胞自發性及dexamethasone 所誘發細胞凋亡的影響。實驗方法?小鼠脾臟細胞經刺莧水萃物處理後收集細胞，使用流速細胞儀及洋菜膠體電泳以判斷凋亡細胞DNA斷裂情形。結果顯示，刺莧水萃物可抑制脾臟細胞自發性及dexamethasone所誘發之細胞凋亡。進一步研究發現，刺莧水萃物及其活性碳處理樣品，在添加濃度?1.250 mg/mL時，均可抑制脾臟細胞內蛋白質p53（一種誘發凋亡的蛋白質）及p80（腫瘤壞死因子受體之一）之表現量，這兩種蛋白質均涉入細胞凋亡。根據本研究推測，刺莧水萃物中，可能存在一種高分子量且不耐熱之抗凋亡成分。

Amaranthus spinosus L. (thorny amaranth) is traditionally selected to be an anti-diabetic herb in Taiwan. This study assessed the immuno-modulatory effects of wild A. spinosus water extract (WASWE) on spontaneous and dexamethasone (DEX)-induced apoptosis in murine primary splenocytes. The cultured splenocytes treated with WASWE products were harvested and analyzed to assess their apoptotic status according to DNA fragmentation by flow cytometry and agarose gel electrophoresis. The results showed WASWE inhibited the spontaneous and DEX-induced apoptosis of splenocytes. Furthermore, both WASWE and its activated charcoal-treated sample administered at concentration of 1.250 mg/mL inhibited intracellular protein levels of p53 (an apoptotic inducer protein) and p80 (a form of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor), which are involved in apoptosis. The present study suggested the existence of a heat-labile anti-apoptotic component with high molecular weight in WASWE.