Abstract
A potential limitation of in vitro microtiter cytotoxicity assays as compared to in vivo antitumor studies is that the complex three-dimensional structure of the solid tumor is lost in monolayer cultures in vitro. We investigated whether more in vivo like cell-cell interactions could be easily and reproducibly obtained in an in vitro cytotoxicity assay. HT29 human colon adenocarcinoma cells were seeded in 96-well microtiter plates with 'V'-shaped wells and allowed to form postconfluent multilayered cultures. Cross-sections of microcultures fixed after 2 and 3 weeks following plating revealed approximately 7 and 35 cell layers respectively. Using a tetrazolium assay to assess cytotoxicity the EC50 (drug concentration which gives absorbance readings 50% lower than those of non-treated wells) of multilayered cultures exposed to doxorubicin for 24 h was 12 times higher (p <0.05) than that determined for subconfluent monolayered cells simultaneouslv exposed to the drug. This system offers an alternative to study the chemosensitivity of three-dimensionally organized cells using semiautomated microtiter plate technology.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1319-1322 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Anticancer Research |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 4 |
State | Published - 1992 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cell aggregates
- Cell culture
- Cytotoxicity
- Doxorubicin
- HT29 cells
- MTT assay
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cancer Research
- Oncology