The human leukemic HL-60 cell line: An in vitro model for cell death endpoint identification

The aim of this study was to investigate the endpoints related to cell death, either necrosis or apoptosis, induced by four chemicals in the promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60. Cell morphology, DNA fragmentation, cytofluorimetric analysis and oxygen consumption were used to classify the type of cell death observed. In our analysis, we found that not all the selected parameters reproduced the differences observed in the cell death caused by the four chemicals tested. As cell death is a very complex phenomenon, several factors should be taken into account (cell type, exposure time and chemical concentration), if chemicals are to be classified according to differences in the mechanisms more directly involved in cell death.