Effect of chlorhexidine on animal cells in vitro

Abstract

abstract – When cultures of human epithelial cells were treated for 5 min at 37°C with chlorhexidine in Eagle's medium without serum added, concentrations from 0.05 mM were found to be toxic as measured by growth inhibition and differential staining. About 20 times higher concentrations were needed to obtain a toxic effect, however, when the cells were treated with chlorhexidine dissolved in calf serum. Human whole saliva collected from a single subject had no such protective effect. The intracellular activities of 5′‐nucleotidase, alkaline phosphatase, and NADPH 2 + NADH 2 ‐diaphorases decreased upon treatment of the cells with concentrations of chlorhexidine at 0.2 and 2 mM, whereas 0.02 mM had no measurable effect on these enzymes. Treatment with chlorhexidine at 10 −4 mM had no effect on the hypotonic hemolysis of human erythrocytes, 0.001–0.1 mM stabilized the cells, but increasing the concentration to 1 mM gave 100% hemolysis. A concentration‐dependent inhibition of the Na + –K + –ATPase activity was found when erythrocyte membranes were incubated with chlorhexidine in the range of 0.002–0.2 mM.