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Effects of Acetone and Phenol on Established Cell Lines Cultivated in Vitro^*

Donald M. Pace and Alice Elliott

( Institute for Cellular Research, Department of Physiology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska)

Two substances, acetone and phenol, common constituents of cigarette smoke, have been studied with reference to their short-term effects on mouse fibroblast and human skin cells cultivated in vitro.

Concentrations of acetone, 10.0 mg/ml and above, are toxic to both types of cells. The skin cells are more sensitive to acetone effects than the fibroblast cells. Although 5.0 mg acetone/ml is not toxic to fibroblasts within a 10-day period, it is noticeably so to the skin cells.

Phenol in concentrations of 0.2 mg/ml and above is very toxic and kills the cells within an hour or 2. In concentrations of 0.1 and 0.16 mg/ml some of the Strain L cells are still living after 10 days, but there is a definite inhibitory effect indicated; only 15 per cent survived at this time.

The skin cells appear to be less sensitive to the effects of phenol than fibroblast cells, as indicated by those surviving in 0.16 mg/ml at the end of the experiment—15 per cent of the Strain L cells, 57 per cent of the skin cells.

^* These investigations were supported by grants from the Tobacco Industry Research Committee and the Cooper Foundation through the University of Nebraska Foundation (Lincoln, Nebraska).

Present address: Department of Biology, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.

Received 8/18/61.

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