Cytotoxic effects of etephon and maleic hydrazide in Vero, Hep2, HepG2 cells

The toxicity of etephon and maleic hydrazide, used as plant growth regulators in agriculture, were reported as low in mammals in previous studies. However, in vitro cytotoxicity studies in mammalian cells are currently missing to understand their toxicity at molecular level. In the current study, the cytotoxicity of these compounds, were studied in Vero (African green monkey kidney epithelium), HepG2 (human hepatocellular carcinoma), Hep2 (human epidermoid Cancer) cells by MTT ((3-(4,5-dimetiltiazol-2-il)-2,5-difeniltetrazolium bromure) and LDH (Lactate Dehydrogenase) assays. Maleic hydrazide had lower IC50 values for all cell lines compared to ethephon. Least cytotoxic effect treated by ethephon were observed in Vero, followed by HepG2 and Hep2. Similarly maleic hydrazide also showed least cytotoxicity on Vero cells, followed by Hep2 and HepG2 cells (p < 0.05). IC50 values in general were found to be highest in Vero cells, followed by HepG2 and Hep2 cells (p < 0.05). LDH and MTT assays showed correllation and had close relation except HepG2-maleic hydrazide application with the correlation coefficient for all >0.868 (p < 0.05). This study is expected to be a basis to understand the cytotoxic effects of ethephon and maleic hydrazide in mammal cells to be supplemented by further studies.