Abstract

Forchlorfenuron [N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea] or CPPU is a synthetic cytokinin which is normally used to increase the berry size of grapes and kiwifruit. CPPU was assessed for their cytotoxicity in MCF7 cell line by 3-(4,5-dimethyl thazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay at concentrations of 320, 160, 80, 40, 20, 10 and 5 µg/mL and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was calculated using Graph Pad Prism 5.0. The cells were subjected to Acridine Orange/Ethidium bromide to find out the possible mechanism of toxicity. The results of MTT assay indicated a dose dependent cytotoxicity to MCF-7 cells with the dose 320 µg/mL. The IC50 was found to be 92.6 µg/mL. The staining of cells with AO/EB showed cells with orange to red fluorescence when treated with IC50 and double IC50 concentrations with chromatin condensation indicating apoptosis. Hence it could be concluded that the cytokinin causes apoptosis in MCF-7 cells.

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