EVALUATION OF THE CYTOTOXICITY OF CYCLODEXTRINS AND HYDROXYPROPYLATED DERIVATIVES

The haemolytic effect toward human erythrocytes and the cytotoxicity toward P388 cells of the three natural cyclodextrins and their hydroxypropylated derivatives have been compared. The cytotoxicity of the six cyclodextrins toward these two cell types follows a similar pattern, and the curve parameters are generally of the same order of magnitude for both cell types in spite of the biological differences. The in vitro cytotoxic effect decreases in the order beta CD > alpha CD > gamma CD and HP beta CD > HP gamma CD greater than or equal to HP alpha CD. These results showed that phenomena involved in cyclodextrin cytotoxicity are not specific to the cell type, and bare out the hypothesis of destruction of membranes by the removal of basic membrane components. Moreover, they demonstrated the influence of parameters other than CD concentration, i.e., the presence of serum components, or the density of the cells, which can dramatically influence the cytotoxic effect of CDs. In fact, the cytotoxicity of a cyclodextrin is determined by the relative proportion of cellular and extracellular molecules likely to be included and cyclodextrins.