Iodinated radiographic
contrast media is used in
cancer radiography for
cancer diagnosis. The aim of this present study was to examine five iodinated radiographic
contrast media (IRCM) (i.e.,
iohexol,
iopamidol,
iobitridol,
ioxaglate, and
iodixanol) in terms of their cytotoxicity, mitochondria membrane potential (ΔΨm), and
P-glycoprotein function in multidrug resistant K562/Dox
cancer cells and corresponding sensitive
cancer cells. The cytotoxicity was determined by colorimetric
resazurin reduction assay. The ΔΨm and
P-glycoprotein function was measured using a noninvasive functional spectrofluorometry.
Rhodamine B, fluorescence probe, was used to estimate ΔΨm. The kinetic of
P-glycoprotein-mediated efflux
pirarubicin was used to monitor
P-glycoprotein function in multidrug resistant (MDR)
cancer cells. The results showed that
ioxaglate and
iodixanol show similar efficacy in MDR
cancer cells and for their corresponding sensitive
cancer cells.
Iopamidol,
iohexol, and
iobitridol showed higher efficacy in MDR
cancer cells than for the corresponding sensitive
cancer cells by approximately 2 fold. The results also showed no significant change in the |ΔΨm| values in treated K562 and K562/Dox
cancer cells when compared to the non-treated K562 and K562/Dox
cancer cells. However, there were notable changes detected for
iobitridol and
iodixanol at 50 mgI/mL. Similarly, the results showed significant differences in
P-glycoprotein function of K562/Dox
cancer cells
after treatment with IRCM when compared to the non-treated K562/Dox
cancer cells, with
iohexol and
iodixanol being the notable exceptions once again. In this present study, IRCM exhibited cytotoxicity on MDR
cancer cells and their corresponding sensitive
cancer cells. IRCM also showed potential as an
anticancer agent in the future.