title: Effects of DMSO on gene expression in human and rat hepatocytes.
abstract: Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a very common organic solvent used for dissolving lipophilic substances, for example for in vitro cell-based assays. At the same time, DMSO is known to be cytotoxic at high concentrations. Therefore, it is important to define threshold concentrations of DMSO for cells but relevant data at the molecular level are very limited. We have focused on conducting microarray analyses of human and rat hepatocytes treated with more than 100 chemicals in attempts to identify candidate biomarker genes. In the present study, the effects of DMSO on gene expression and cytotoxicity were assessed in human cryopreserved hepatocytes and rat primary cultured hepatocytes. A cytotoxicity test with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity demonstrated DMSO to be noncytotoxic up to a concentration of 2% (v/v) in both cases and there were only few effects on the gene expression profiles up to 0.5% (v/v). The observed differences from controls were considered to be of little toxicological importance, but still need to be taken into account in interpretation of findings when DMSO is used at high concentration.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Science Laboratory, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Konohana-ku, Osaka, Japan. sumida@sc.sumitomo-chem.co.jp
authors.forename: Kayo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sumida
authors.forename: Yoshinobu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toritsuka
authors.forename: Tomochika
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe-Tomizawa
authors.forename: Mikio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Urushidani
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide / Q000633:toxicity*; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012997:Solvents / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D012997:Solvents; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide