title: Pyruvate alleviates toxic effects of ethanol on cells in culture.
abstract: Cytotoxic effects of ethanol on cultured human hepatocytes and fibroblasts differed with the type of culture medium used. When cytotoxic effects of ethanol were compared between culture systems using either RPMI-1640 or Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM), the cytotoxicity was more prominent with the former medium than with the latter. A reduction of the cytotoxic effects appeared to be due to the pyruvate contained in DMEM. The protective effect of pyruvate against ethanol toxicity may be related to tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity because addition of malate to the medium also reduced the cytotoxic effects. Our results suggest that drug cytotoxicity testing in vitro must be done using various types of culture medium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukaya
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Namba
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line / Q000187:drug effects; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects*; D008293:Malates / Q000494:pharmacology; D011773:Pyruvates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012997:Solvents / Q000633:toxicity*; D018675:Toxicity Tests
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D008293:Malates; D011773:Pyruvates; D012997:Solvents; D000431:Ethanol; C030298:malic acid