In vitro Evaluation of Cell Viability/Cytotoxicity Efficiency of Boric Acid in Fibroblast Cells

Recent studies highlight the biological importance of boron compounds and their potential beneficial effects on human health. In addition, it is reported that high amounts of boron exposure may have adverse effects. There is information that boron may exert anti-cancer and anti-proliferative effects on tumor cells, but it is not yet known how these effects can affect normal cells. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of boric acid (BA) on cell viability/cytotoxicity. For this purpose, L929 mouse fibroblast cells were treated with different concentrations of BA for 48 hours. Mitochondrial activity was determined by the 2H-Tetrazolium,2-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-3,5-diphenyl-,bromide (MTT) method, and lysosomal activity was evaluated with the neutral red uptake (NR) method. A significant decrease was detected in 3.125-100 mM BA groups (p<0.05; p<0.001) with the MTT test and 25 mM-100 mM BA groups (p<0.01; p<0.001) with the NK test. Boric acid has been found to reduce cell viability by affecting mitochondrial and lysosomal activity, depending on the concentration in vitro. It has been thought that in vivo studies are needed to determine the effective treatment dose of boric acid.