Quantitative in vitro assessment of drug phototoxicity by a chemiluminescence method

Objective To establish a test model for phototoxic agents using the method of chemiluminescence. Methods The phototoxicity or pipemidic acid, doxycycline, griseofuvin and c hlorpromazine was detected. These agents and distilled water were irradiate d with ultraviolet A (UVA) in the presence of nicotinamide adenine dinucleo tide reduced (NADH), and the duplicated samples were incubated in the dark as dark controls. Then luminol was added to the test samples, and the chemi luminescent value was counted and calculated. Results Chemiluminescent values of pipemidic acid, doxycycline and griseofu vin were significantly higher than those in controls. The result of linear regression analysis showed that phototoxic intensity was linear correlated with UVA dosage. The regression coefficient for distilled water was 0.56, i ndicating that the luminscent value (LV) rose slightly after UVA irradiatio n. For pipemidic acid, griseofuvin and doxycycline, the regression coeffici ents reached 76.96, 254.33 and 92.61 respectively, significantly increased in comparison with those of negative controls (P < 0.01). Conclusion Phototoxicity of pipemidic acid, doxycycline and griseofuvin can be detected with the method of chemiluminescence.