Effects of Anticonvulsant Drugs on the Synthesis of DNA and Protein by Human Bone Marrow Cells in Vitro

Abstract

Suspensions of human bone marrow cells were incubated with various concentrations of phenobarbitone or phenytoin sodium for 2 h, and the effects of this incubation on the subsequent incorporation of ³H‐thymidine and ³H‐leucine into DNA and protein, respectively, were studied. Both drugs caused a depression of ³H‐thymidine incorporation and this phenomenon was not prevented by the addition of 100 μg of pteroylglutamic acid, folinic acid or 5‐methyltetrahydrofolate per ml of marrow culture. The lowest concentration of drug which caused a statistically significant depression of ³H‐thymidine incorporation was 200 μg per ml for phenobarbitone and 50 μg per ml for phenytoin sodium. Both phenobarbitone and phenytoin sodium also caused an increase in the incorporation of ³H‐leucine at concentrations of 50 and 20 μg per ml, respectively, suggesting the possibility that a stimulation of protein synthesis within erythropoietic cells may play an important role in the development of anticonvulsant‐induced macrocytosis.