Effect of sodium chloride on efficiency of cisplatinum dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide: an in vitro study

Cisplatinum (Cispt) is an anti-cancer drug with a low level of solubility. One of Cispt's solvents is dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) which can be substituted with chlorine of drug as Cispt's solvent. Applying such a solvent in biological studies is impossible due to intense reduction in activity. On the other hand, it is specified that Cispt's stability is increased in aqueous media by increasing sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration up to 0.9 %. Consequently, we intended to study the effect of DMSO on cytotoxicity of Cispt in presence of sodium. MTT assay was employed to study cytotoxicity effect of Cispt + NaCl + DMSO and Cispt + DMSO on G-292 cell line. Cytotoxicity in dilutions of 300 and 9 (p < 0.01) of Cispt in Cispt + NaCl + DMSO formulation was equal to 78 and 7 %. These values were estimated 79 and 18 % for Cispt + DMSO formulation and 79 and 24 % for free drug. IC50 values demonstrated reduction of 45 % in cytotoxicity of Cispt in Cispt + DMSO formulation. Studying chemical structure of Cispt and Cispt dissolved in DMSO showed that NaCl cannot inhibit inactivating effect of DMSO on Cispt and effect of this solvent on Cispt is independent from presence of NaCl. Results represented that using NaCl does not result in stability and keeping cytotoxicity properties of Cispt in DMSO. Findings suggest more studies for using DMSO as a solvent of Cispt.