Calcium hypochlorite induces apoptosis in cultured human skin keratinocytes

Abstract

Calcium hypochlorite compositions are primarily used for disinfectant and general sanitation purposes in swimming pools. It has not been shown that calcium hypochlorite induces apoptosis in human skin cells. Therefore, we undertook this study to investigate whether and how calcium hypochlorite induces skin cell apoptosis using human skin keratinocytes cell line HaCaT cells. After treatment of HaCaT cells with different doses of calcium hypochlorite (Pulsar® Plus Briquettes), cell proliferation was measured using an MTT Dye assay. Detection of specific proteins from apoptosis pathways were analyzed using Western blot at different time intervals. Increased calcium hypochlorite concentrations lead to increased apoptosis in cultured HaCaT cells. It is also shown that prolonged exposure to calcium hypochlorite result in an increased rate of apoptosis. Although it is known that calcium hypochlorite is an effective disinfectant in swimming pools, little is known about its effects on human skin cells. Our results thus suggest that prolonged exposure at specific concentrations of calcium hypochlorite lead to varying rates of apoptosis in human keratinocytes.