Author details

3.4. Comparison between in vitro cytotoxicity data and in vivo data

only be made by the co-application of various in vivo and in vitro methods.

The importance of cytotoxicity assays in early drug development is unquestionable although it must be concluded that no assay technology for detecting cytotoxicity in vitro is perfect. Strong arguments can be made for and against using cell viability or cytotoxicity assays as a reliable model of human medication. Depending upon the objectives of the investigation, either

4. Conclusion

(right image).

142 Cytotoxicity

As the whole, medical science and industry is based on the modification, repair of damaged or badly functioning cells and tissues in human or animal body, the correlation between in vitro and in vivo data is crucial. Do these artificial test systems, cell lines truly replicate how a real tissue would react to a certain treatment or compound? The answer is based on the application of multiple in vitro methods and the careful planning of the in vivo experiments. A good example of the practice is the study of Yu et al. [37]. Xantii fructus is a traditional Chinese herbal drug and clinical reports indicated its renal toxicity. The study was based on MTT and LDH assays of the main components of the herbal drug on a renal cell line, as well as acute and chronic toxicity experiments in rats. While the main component of the drug, the atractyloside potassium salt showed no cytotoxicity on the cell lines, the water extract of the fruit had an inhibitory effect in case of high concentrations on the MTT assay, but no membrane damage on the LDH assay. These results indicate that the secondary components of the water extract have cytotoxic capabilities and the exact mechanism of killing might involve the suppressed metabolic activity of the cells, but not the damage of the cell membrane. The acute in vivo toxicity showed that only high concentrations could terminate the rats and cause abnormalities in the organs and the chronic toxicity showed only minor changes in the highest concentration group. Overall, this complex study created a much more accurate, scientific point of view about the toxicity of Xanthii fructus, what chemicals are responsible for its toxicity, what are the exact dosages, and what are the side effects that are caused by the herbal drug. It could

Figure 10. Chemical formula of the Calcein-AM (upper image), Hoechst 33342 (left image) and the propidium iodide

Ildikó Bácskay\*, Dániel Nemes, Ferenc Fenyvesi, Judit Váradi, Gábor Vasvári, Pálma Fehér, Miklós Vecsernyés and Zoltán Ujhelyi

\*Address all correspondence to: bacskay.ildiko@pharm.unideb.hu

Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
