Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Dimethyl Sulfoxide Damages Mitochondrial Integrity And Membrane Potential In Cultured Astrocytes, Chan Yuan, Junying Gao, Jichao Guo, Lei Bai, Charles Marshall, Zhiyou Cai, Linmei Wang, Ming Xiao

Center of Excellence in Rural Health Faculty Publications

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a polar organic solvent that is used to dissolve neuroprotective or neurotoxic agents in neuroscience research. However, DMSO itself also has pharmacological and pathological effects on the nervous system. Astrocytes play a central role in maintaining brain homeostasis, but the effect and mechanism of DMSO on astrocytes has not been studied. The present study showed that exposure of astrocyte cultures to 1% DMSO for 24 h did not significantly affect cell survival, but decreased cell viability and glial glutamate transporter expression, and caused mitochondrial swelling, membrane potential impairment and reactive oxygen species production, and subsequent cytochrome …