Cell Division, Cytotoxicity, and the Assays Used in the Detection of Cytotoxicity

Abstract

Cell division is a phenomenon that is encountered in all cells in nature. While normal cell division results in proliferation in single-celled organisms, and development and repair in multicellular organisms, aberrant and untimely cell division results in tumor formation. Therefore, the understanding of the cell division is hidden in identifying the details of the molecular mechanisms that govern cellular division at the exact time and under right conditions. Sometimes these molecular mechanisms are distorted by both intrinsic and extracellular factors, and the division process halts or deviates to an abnormal pathway. At this point, it is essential that the abnormal cells are removed from the tissue by an appropriate mechanism. In this context, in this review, general and specific information about cell division and its molecular control mechanisms were discussed, and different types of cell death mechanisms were mentioned accordingly. In addition, chemical, biological, and physical cytotoxic agents that negatively affect cell division and their mechanisms of action are explained. Finally, a brief review of the principles of different cytotoxicity (cell viability and proliferation) test systems has been performed to provide a source of information for investigators who study cell viability, proliferation, or different types of cellular death pathways.

α-Mangostin Nanoparticles Cytotoxicity and Cell Death Modalities in Breast Cancer Cell Lines

“…Cells that undergo fast necrosis in vitro lack the time and energy necessary to activate apoptotic pathways and do not exhibit apoptotic markers. Secondary necrosis occurs when apoptotic cells in culture experience apoptosis [ 58 ]. The causes of cytotoxicity are divided into the following: (1) Chemical cytotoxic agents—the primary goal for cytotoxic drugs, or cytostatic agents, is to prevent the growth of cancer cells, often accomplished by targeting processes that directly disrupt DNA replication or transcription interfering with critical cell processes during mitosis [ 59 ].…”

“…(2) Biological cytotoxic agents—biological cytotoxic agents are commonly defined as harmful compounds produced from viruses, bacteria, fungus, plants, or animals. The most well-known compounds in this category are bacterial endo-/exotoxins and antibiotics [ 58 , 60 ]. (3) Physical cytotoxic agents—heat, ultrasonic vibrations, and radiation are all examples of physical agents that are cytotoxic.…”

Beverage and Food Fragrance Biotechnology, Novel Applications, Sensory and Sensor Techniques: An Overview

“…Therefore, this trouble will limit the targeted flavour compound production, by balancing metabolic flux distribution between heterologous pathways and native metabolic shows essential in improving the production of targeted flavour compound. Also, strategies to decrease toxicity to the hosts are needed [53,77].…”

“…Natural products frequently show cytotoxicity to the microorganism hosts, with the consequence of reducing cell growth and prejudice the flavour compounds production. Therefore, several strategies were studied including two-stage fermentation, pathway separation and transporters mediated compound secretion [53,77]. To lessen the negative effects on cell growth separated into two stages, in the first fermentation stage, heterogeneous pathway retains calm and cells grow fast with precursor accumulated, in the second stage, target pathway would be induced to produce the target flavour compounds.…”

“…To attain this objective, transporters have been taken into account, for transporting the products to the extracellular space. Transporter engineering has been developed to improve the transports, due to the scarcity of transporters that can transport the flavour natural products [53,77].…”