We are planning to screen synthetic compounds for in vitro cytotoxicity by SRB assay method. All the compounds are soluble in ethanol and DMSO.
Can we screen the compounds by dissolving in ethanol?
Or should we go for DMSO?
Does the solvents ethanol and DMSO effect the in vitro cytotoxicity results of compounds?
Dear Murahari, What Krishnaraju has stated above is absolutely correct DMSO may produce cytotoxicity. As I also experienced that and same is evidenced in the literature. But, it depends upon its concentration used. I saw many articles related to the use of DMSO with maximum 1% concentration.
Manikanta,
Solvent concentrations should be checked for each type of celltype/line as well as in each particular labortatory settings/culture conditions. Still percentages indicated before are usually used. Still I would like to call your attention for the following. If metabolism/biotransformtion is of importance to you i.e. you're also interested in the toxicity of potential metabolites of your compounds you should be aware of high sensitivity of drug metabolizing enzymes to solvents, e.g. of cytochrome P450s ( see e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9929510). There a number a papers on this subject. FYI
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