Cytotoxic Effects of Digoxin on Mesenchymal Stem Cells: An in Vitro Study

introduction: cardiac glycosides such as digoxin or digitoxin are the natural products that aretraditionally used to increase cardiac contractile force in patients with heart failure and cardiacarrhythmias. it has been shown that digoxin can directly inhibit the cell proliferation and leadto cell apoptosis. present study was conducted to analyze the effect of digoxin in the cohorts ofmesenchymal stem cells(mscs) -based therapy. methods: mscs were cultured and treated with different concentrations (0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 7, 10, 15,20, 30 and 40 μm) of digoxin for 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours. mtt assay was performed to study cellviability and proliferation. results: after 24 and 48 hours, cell viability was significantly decreased in 20, 30 and 40 μmconcentrations (p<0.05), but significant decline in cell viability was observed only in 40 μmafter 12 hours (p0.05). conclusion: it is suggested that digoxin may lead to decline in cell survival ability and increasein cell apoptosis in a dose-time dependent pattern. it is recommended to consider application ofglycosoids in concurrence with stem cell therapy.