MTT Assay for Cytotoxic Drugs on Experimental Study of L2 Cells

Objective:To evaluate the reliability of toxic effects of drugs using MTT assay.Methods:The rat alveolar epithelial L2 cells exposure to TBHQ 10-100 μM,BSO 1-10 mM,respectively,using MTT assay to detect the activity of cells,JC-1 fluorescent dye to detect the changes in mitochondrial potential,trypan blue exclusion to detect the prevalence.Results:In the treatment dose range,the OD values detected by MTT assay failed to meet generally determine the IC 50 level,and the highest inhibition rate is around 30%;trypan blue exclusion assay data indicate that the LC 50 value of TBHQ is 50 μM,BSO to 5 mM;using of JC-1 fluorescent dye to determine the half dose is 50 μM and 7 mM,respectively.Conclusion:MTT assay is the most common means to detect the cell growth inhibition,but it may not objectively reflect the activity of cells in a given experiment.We suggest to use a variety of methods in conjunction.