Effects of 5-fluorouracil on culture of Bovine Retinal Pigment Epithelial cells

ABSTRACT

Inspite of technical advances, long term retinal reattachment of proliferative vitreoretinopathy following the successful surgery is often disturbed by the occurrence of cell proliferation and traction. A variety of antimetabolite or anticancer drugs have been tried to use for testing their antiproliferative effects on proliferative vitreoretinopathy. To evaluate the antiproliferative property of 5-FU, we treated with the different concentration of 5-FU(0.5, 1, 5, 10 mg/L) on cultured bovine retinal pigment epithelial cells and performed dose inhibition studies. We also examined the 5-FU treated bovine retinal pigment epithelial cells by inverted microscope daily to evaluate the morphologic change for 5 days. The results were as follows; 1. 5-FU inhibited proliferation of bovine pigment epithelial cells in a dose dependent and a time dependent manner. 2. The drug concentration required for 50% inhibition of cell growth(ID50) was found to be 1.87 mg/L. 3. As the drug concentration increased, the cell density gradually decreased and the degenerative changes such as irregular shape of cells, cytoplasmic vaculoes and cell debris were aggravated. In 10 mg/L of 5-FU treated well, disruption of cell membrane and cell death were noted from the first day of incubation. These results show that 5-FU has a potent antiprolifertive effects in retinal pigment epithelial cell and toxic effet in high dose.