On the toxicity of low doses of tetrasodium-ethylenediamine-tetraacetate (Na-EDTA) in normal rat kidney (NRK) cells in culture.

The toxicity of tetrasodium-ethylenediaminetetraacetate (Na-EDTA) was investigated in normal rat kidney cells (NRK-52E, American Type Culture Collection) in culture. Cell death and reduced colony-forming ability were observed at Na-EDTA concentrations < 100 microM, that is at concentrations lower than that required to chelate all the Ca2+ in the growth medium. No toxicity was observed when cells were exposed to 100 microM Zn- or Fe-EDTA, but the same concentration of Cu-EDTA was as toxic as Na-EDTA. Continuous exposure of the cell cultures to 5 microM Na- or Zn-EDTA for up to 7 weeks yielded no indications of toxicity.