High-Voltage Pulses Potentiate Bleomycin Cytotoxicity Towards Cancer Cells in vitro

In this study the influence of high-voltage pulses on bleomycin cytotoxicity towards mouse hepatoma MH-22A and rat glioma C6 cells in vitro was determined. It was obtained that combining bleomycin with pulses of strong electric field significantly enhances the number of cells killed by bleomycin. Bleomycin alone was cytotoxic to both cell lines at concentrations above 1 μM. Treatment of cells by electric pulses in the presence of bleomycin greatly potentiated its cytotoxicity towards both cell lines tested - the bleomycin concentration required to reduce cell survival by 50% was 3.5-3.8 nM only. Exposure of cells to electric pulses only did not reduce cell viability.