A new 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay for testing macrophage cytotoxicity to L1210 and its drug-resistant cell lines in vitro.

Activated by interferon gamma (IFN gamma)(50 U/ml) and lipopolysaccharide (50 ng/ml), mouse peritoneal macrophages were cocultured with the L1210 parental cell line (L1210/PRT) and its Adriamycin-, cisplatin-resistant cell lines (L1210/ADM, L1210/CDDP) for 24 h at effector: target (E:T) ratios of 10:1, 5:1 and 2:1. The direct 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium-bromide (MTT)-cleavage assay, a new improved indirect MTT assay, and the colony-formation assay were used to quantify macrophage-mediated suppression of these non-adherent tumour targets. The results showed that the macrophages can produce formazan at a high level, which can interfere with the final results of a direct MTT assay. The new indirect MTT assay can avoid such interference because the effectors are separated from the targets before the assay is performed, so the real viability of the targets is reflected. An indirect MTT assay, as developed in this study, could be better than the direct assay for examining the suppressive effect of activated macrophages on non-adherent tumour cells in vitro. This study also revealed that all the L1210 cell lines can be suppressed significantly by the macrophages at E:T ratios of 10:1 and 5:1 while the two drug-resistant cell lines have lower survival rates at an E:T ratio of 10:1, indicating that they are more susceptible than their parental cell line.