2% ethanol in medium, can shsy5y stand it ? - (Nov/16/2008 )

hey people ,

i work with shsy5y cell line and i must give them treatment with a drug dissolved in ethanol and a retinoic acid dissolved again in ethanol so eventually it adds up to 2% of ethanol in cell medium.
can these cells manage it? what should i do?

Can you get or prepare the drugs at a higher concentration so you need to add less?

i'm not sure, but my question is what in general the limit of alcohol toxicity. at which percentage should i limit myself?

You'd likely have to determine the MIC of EtOH on shsy5y cells yourself (unless somebody else knows what it is). However, as you probably suspect, the sanest thing would be to limit the amount to as little as you possibly can, because even if 2% doesn't kill the cells, it might alter their growth characteristics and thus your results...