Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of sonoporation, ultrasound (US) in combination with microbubbles (MB), in enhancing the chemotherapeutic effects of Cisplatin (CP) and Topotecan (TOP) in retinoblastoma Y79 cells. We hypothesize that sonoporation combined with CP or TOP will result in decreased cell viability compared to chemotherapeutics alone.
Methods:
MB+US consisted of 100 µL MB and US exposure for 10 seconds at an intensity of 0.3 W/cm2 and 1 MHz. Y79 cells at a concentration of 2.5x105 cells/mL in 2mL were treated in triplicates: control cells vs. 30nM TOP alone vs. TOP+MB+US; CP 100uM alone vs. CP+MB+US. To analyze Y79 cell viability, cells were counted using trypan blue exclusion over a period of 48 hours.
Results:
Compared to chemotherapy alone, there was decreased cell viability of Y79 cells when exposed to either CP or TOP + MB+US. At 48 hours, the viability of cells exposed to TOP alone was 82% vs. 52% with the addition of MB+US. At 48 hours, the viability of cells exposed to CP alone was 29% vs. 5.2% with MB+US.
Conclusions:
Sonoporation enhances the effectiveness of both CP and TOP chemotherapeutic activity against Y79 retinoblastoma cells in vitro resulting in decreased cell viability at 48 hours.
Keywords: retinoblastoma • cell membrane/membrane specializations • drug toxicity/drug effects