Studies on the effects of acetaldehyde on tissue cells cultivated in vitro.

Short-term studies have been made on the effects of acetaldehyde on four different cell lines (clones). When the cells were exposed to relatively high concentrations of acetaldehyde, 2.0 and 8.0 mg/mI, they became fixed. Cells in 1.0 mg. and 0.5 mg. acetaldehyde per ml. did not become fixed but rounded up and detached within a few hours. In 0.05 and 0.01 mg. acetaldehyde per ml. no definite effects were noted within the limits of the short-term testing, and hence these concentrations were used in the long term studies. Mouse liver cells exposed to 0.05 mg. acetaldehyde per ml. for 23 days were all dead within 7 days following return to control medium. During the first 37 days in 0.01 mg/ml, the liver cells proliferated to a greater extent than those in control medium, but after this period the rate of increase was lower than in the controls. Basically, the results obtained with Strain L cells and HeLa cells were similar to those with the mouse liver cells.