Cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of boron compounds on leukemia cell line

In this study we investigated the effects of boric acid and sodium tetraborate on an acute leukemia cell line and healthy human lymphocytes. We evaluated the effects of boric acid and sodium tetraborate on the HL-60 cell line and healthy human lymphocytes by using the methods of MTT, Neutral Red, AO (flow cytometry) and transmission electron microscope. We found that there were dead cells at a concentration of 500 A mu M boric acid and sodium tetraborate (50 % and 40 %, respectively). An apoptotic effect was found at a concentration of 1,000 A mu M concentration in normal lymphocytes and HL-60 (acute leukemia cells) cells (2.5 % and 8.8 % respectively). We observed that boric acid at a concentration of 500 A mu M caused double nucleus and micronucleus formation in both HL-60 cells and lymphocytes. An expansion in mitochondrial dimension and deformation in cristas also appeared. Our findings suggest that boric acid is more effective than sodium tetraborate on the HL-60, and boric acid in particular showed a cytotoxic effect on HL-60 in comparison to healthy lymphocytes and it also affected the mitochondrial pathway.