Effects of Several Antifungal Agents on Cultured Human Nail Matrix Cells and Epidermal Keratinocytes

Yoo, Jae Hak; Chung, Jin Ho; Eun, Hee Chul

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Long-term oral itraconazole and terbinafine are widely used in the treatment of onychomycosis. Accelerated nail growth in patients with itraconazole has been described in several reports. However, there has been no report regarding the effect of antifungal agents on cultured nail matrix cells(NMCs).
OBJECTIVE
We applied several antifungal agents on cultured human NMCs and epidermal kera- tinocytes(EKs) to compare the cytotoxicity of several antifungal agents and also to verify possible stimulating effects of itraconazole and 6-hydroxyitraconazole on nail growth.
METHODS
To evaluate the effect of antifungal agents, the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazo1-2-yl) 2,5-diphenyl- tetrazolium bromide(MTT) test, tritiated thymidine incorporation test, and lactic dehydrogenase(LDH) leakage test were used.
RESULTS
Dose dependent decreases in cell viability and DNA synthesis, and dose dependent increases in LDH liberation were observed in cultured human NMCs and EKs after exposure to several antifungal agents. The dose-response reaction patterns for NMCs and EKs to antifungal agents were similar. The cytotoxicity potency of several antifungal agents measured by each method were slightly different. Itraconazole and 6-hydroxyitraconazole did not show stimulating effects on cell proliferation in in vitro monolayer cell culture systems.
CONCLUSION
These observations suggest that itraconazole appeared less cytotoxic but showed no stimulating effects on nail matrix cell proliferation in vitro. Cultured human EKs as well as NMCs may be useful in evaluating the effects of agents which are involved in nails.