Influence of in Vitro Assay Setup on the Apparent Cytotoxic Potency of Benzalkonium Chlorides.

The nominal concentration is generally used to express concentration-effect relationships in in vitro toxicity assays. However, the nominal concentration does not necessarily represent the exposure concentration responsible for the observed effect. Surfactants accumulate at interphases and likely sorb to in vitro system components such as serum protein and well plate plastic. The extent of sorption and the consequences of this sorption on in vitro readouts is largely unknown for these chemicals. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effect of sorption to in vitro components on the observed cytotoxic potency of benzalkonium chlorides (BAC) varying in alkyl chain length (6-18 carbon atoms, C6-18) in a basal cytotoxicity assay with the rainbow trout gill cell line (RTgill-W1). Cells were exposed for 48 h in 96-well plates to increasing concentration of BACs in exposure medium containing 0, 60 µM bovine serum albumin (BSA) or 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Before and after exposure, BAC concentrations in exposure medium were analytically determined. Based on freely dissolved concentrations at the end of the exposure, median effect concentrations (EC50) decreased with increasing alkyl chain length up to 14 carbons. For BAC with alkyl chains of 12 or more carbons, EC50's based on measured concentrations after exposure in supplement-free medium were up to 25-times lower than EC50's calculated using nominal concentrations. When BSA or FBS was added to the medium, a decrease in cytotoxic potency of up to 22 times was observed for BAC with alkyl chains of eight or more carbons. The results of this study emphasize the importance of expressing the in vitro readouts as a function of a dose metric that is least influenced by assay setup to compare assay sensitivities and chemical potencies.

Dose metric considerations in in vitro assays to improve quantitative in vitro-in vivo dose extrapolations.

Challenges to improve toxicological risk assessment to meet the demands of the EU chemical's legislation, REACH, and the EU 7th Amendment of the Cosmetics Directive have accelerated the development of non-animal based methods. Unfortunately, uncertainties remain surrounding the power of alternative methods such as in vitro assays to predict in vivo dose-response relationships, which impedes their use in regulatory toxicology. One issue reviewed here, is the lack of a well-defined dose metric for use in concentration-effect relationships obtained from in vitro cell assays. Traditionally, the nominal concentration has been used to define in vitro concentration-effect relationships. However, chemicals may differentially and non-specifically bind to medium constituents, well plate plastic and cells. They may also evaporate, degrade or be metabolized over the exposure period at different rates. Studies have shown that these processes may reduce the bioavailable and biologically effective dose of test chemicals in in vitro assays to levels far below their nominal concentration. This subsequently hampers the interpretation of in vitro data to predict and compare the true toxic potency of test chemicals. Therefore, this review discusses a number of dose metrics and their dependency on in vitro assay setup. Recommendations are given on when to consider alternative dose metrics instead of nominal concentrations, in order to reduce effect concentration variability between in vitro assays and between in vitro and in vivo assays in toxicology.

Elucidating the sorption mechanism of "mixed-mode" SPME using the basic drug amphetamine as a model compound.

We studied the sorption of amphetamine as a model drug to represent small, polar organic cations to a new SPME coating combining C18 and propylsulfonic acid. This combination of hydrophobic and strong cation exchange (SCX) groups was compared to conventional SPME fibers with polyacrylate (PA) or C18 coating. The affinity of amphetamine at physiological pH (PBS) was 20 to 180 times greater for the new C18/SCX coating than for C18 alone and PA of different coating thickness. As amphetamine is a base and >99% protonated at physiological pH, this enhanced affinity is attributed to the ion-exchange phase in the coating. Tests at pH above the pKa of amphetamine show that, when normalized to the coating volume, neutral amphetamine also has a higher affinity compared to PA. As ion-exchange groups are not unlimitedly present in the coating, amphetamine isotherms level off to a saturation concentration on the C18/SCX fiber at the highest tested aqueous concentrations. Also, other cations (Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+)) compete for the SCX sites and decrease the sorption coefficients, e.g. by 1.7 log units when comparing Milli-Q water with PBS. The C18/SCX fiber provides improved sensitivity over some of the classic SPME fibers. However, care should be taken near the cation exchange capacity of the fiber and the fiber should be calibrated in an appropriate matrix so as to eliminate competition effects.