Ethanol/methanol/dmso for cell culture - (Dec/02/2009 )

I am using tamoxifen on my macrophage cultures. As it is in powdered form, I will be using a solvent. What purity ethanol and methanol is safe for cell culture? I know for DMSO 0.1% is the best - I am using that for other inhibitors so I also have a dmso vehicle control to be safe. Are ethanol and methanol toxic to cells? What should I dilute with?

Thanks

prof. moriarty on Dec 3 2009, 04:31 AM said:

I carried out an LDH assay for a range of ethanol and methanol concentrations and found that I could go as high as 2% in both without significant adverse side effects on cell viability. This is using Caco-2 intestinal cells so I don't know if you would find the same for macrophages. I think you'd be better performing a cell death assay for a range of solvent concentrations to be on the safe side.