The cytotoxicity of short-chain alcohols and aldehydes in cultured neuroblastoma cells

Abstract

The effects of methanol, ethanol, propanol, and allyl alcohol and their corresponding aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, and acrolein) on the cell growth, viability, adhesion to the flask surface, and morphologic appearance of a clone of mouse C1300 neuroblastoma were studied in culture. The aldehydes were more toxic than their corresponding alcohols. The cytotoxicity of the alcohols increased as the number of carbons in the compound increased, whereas toxicity of the aldehydes increased with decreasing chain length. The cytotoxicity of the aldehydes and alcohols increased with increasing concentration and with increasing time of exposure. Both the carbonyl group and the carbon-carbon double bond are necessary for the marked cytotoxicity of acrolein since both propionaldehyde, having only the carbonyl group, and allyl alcohol, having only the carbon-carbon double bond, were less toxic.