Comparison of Phototoxicity Sensitivity by the Neutral Red Uptake Method for BALB/c 3T3, HaCaT, and HDFa Cells In Vitro

Abstract

Phototoxicity is an acute photoinduced reaction. The 3T3 neutral red uptake (NRU) phototoxicity test has high sensitivity for the determination of phototoxic substances. To further optimize the method, this study mainly focused on comparing the phototoxicity sensitivity by using the NRU method for BALB/c 3T3, HaCaT, and HDFa cells in vitro. The NRU method was used to evaluate the phototoxicity of chlorpromazine hydrochloride (CPZ), amiodarone hydrochloride (Amiodar), and L-histidine (L-His) on BALB/c 3T3 cells, HaCaT cells, and HDFa cells. The sensitivity of different cells to ultraviolet (UVA) irradiation in vitro was studied. L-His showed no phototoxicity, but the phototoxicity of CPZ and Amiodar showed different sensitivities among the three kinds of cells. The in vitro phototoxicity evaluation of HaCaT cells is closer to that of primary human fibroblasts. This study provides a reference for cell line selection to optimize the existing in vitro evaluation method of 3T3 NRU phototoxicity.