Evaluation ofin vitro cytotoxicity of tetramethylarsonium hydroxide in marine animals

Abstract

We have studied the cytotoxicity in vitro of tetramethylarsonium hydroxide (TetMA-OH), which is found in some marine animals, in various murine immune effector cells, including splenocytes, thymocytes, Peyer's patch (PP) lymphocytes, peritoneal macrophages (PMs) alveolar macrophages (AMs) and bone-marrow (BM) cells, using synthetic material which was compared with an inorganic arsenical, sodium arsenite. Arsenite showed strong cytotoxicity in these cells, with an IC50 (the concentration that reduced the number of surviving cells to 50% of that in untreated controls) of about 2–9 µmol dm−3. In contrast, TetMA-OH was less toxic, even at a concentration above 10 mmol dm−3, in these immune effector cells, and no enhancement effect on the viability of the cells was observed. These data suggested that TetMA-OH had no biological effect, either toxic or modulating on any immune effector cells in vitro. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.