RESUMEN
PURPOSE: Lipobean(R)s, widely used in lipodissolving techniques, contain phosphatidylcholine and sodium deoxycholate as its main substances. They have been approved only as medication for liver disease by the FDA. However, they have been used under various clinical settings without exact knowledge of its action mechanism. The authors designed an in vitro study to analyze the effects of different concentrations of phosphatidylcholine and sodium deoxycholate on adipocytes and other types of cells. METHODS: Human adipose-derived stem cell were cultured and induced to differentiate into adipocytes. Fibroblasts extracted from human inferior turbinate tissue, and MC3T3-E1 osteoblast lines were cultured. Phosphatidylcholine solution dissolved with ethanol was applied to the culture medium at differing concentrations (1, 4, 7, 10 mg/mL). The sodium deoxycholate solution dissolved in DMSO applied to the medium at differing concentrations (0.07, 0.1. 0.4. 0.7 mg/mL). Cells were dispersed at a concentration of 5 x 10(3) cells/well in 24 well plates, and surviving cells were calculated 1 day after the application using a CCK-8 kit. RESULTS: The number of surviving cells of adipocytes, fibroblasts and osteoblasts decreased as the concentration of sodium deoxycholate increased. However, all types of cells that had been processed in a phosphatidylcholine showed a cell survival rate of over 70% at all concentrations. CONCLUSION: This study shows that sodium deoxycholate is the more major factor in destroying adipocytes, and it is also toxic to the other cells. Therefore, we conclude that care must be taken when using Lipobean(R)s as a method of reducing adipose tissue, for its toxicity may destroy other nontarget cells existing in the subcutaneous tissue layer.