Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Studying Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Orthotopic Breast Cancer Model
Published on: March 20, 2020
The measurement of bioreductive capacity of tumor cells using methylene blue
J E Biaglow1, C J Koch, S W Tuttle
1Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
Purpose:
Methylene blue (MB) can be used as an intracellular electron acceptor. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of MB for the determination of total bioreductive capacity of cell suspensions.
Methods And Materials:
We measured oxygen consumption by Clark electrode and pentose cycle activity by release of 14CO2 from 1-14C-glucose.
Results:
Methylene blue catalyzes the reaction of intracellular reductants NADPH, NADH, and reduced glutathione (GSH) with oxygen, causing the production of hydrogen peroxide. The reaction rate correlates with the negative charge of molecule (NADPH(-4) > NADH(-2) > GSH(-1)), suggesting that reaction with positively charged oxidized MB is the limiting step of the reaction. In a cellular system MB causes the electron flow from cellular endogenous substrates to oxygen. It is activated by the disruption of the NADP+/NADPH ratio due to several processes. These are direct oxidation of NADPH and GSH, the GSH peroxidase catalyzed reaction of GSH with H2O2, followed by NADPH oxidation by oxidized glutathione (GSSG). This results in increased cellular oxygen consumption and stimulation of the oxidative limb of pentose cycle (PC) in the presence of MB. The cellular effect of MB differs from other electron accepting drugs. Diamide and tert-butylhydroperoxide act as direct oxidants, while MB is an electron carrier to oxygen. Accordingly, MB shows the highest effect on PC activation and oxygen consumption.
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that MB may be used for the determination of the total bioreductive capacity of the cells, measured by oxygen consumption and PC activation.
