Investigation of in vitro toxicity of jet fuels JP-8 and Jet A

The in vitro cytotoxicity and electrophysiological toxicity of Jet Propulsion-8 (JP-8 jet fuel) on four cell types: H4IIE liver cell line, NIH Swiss 3T3 cell line, neuroblastoma x glioma NG108-15 cells, and embryonic hippocampal neurons were investigated. H4IIE cells exposed to Jet A (a commercial fuel) and JP-8 demonstrated identical toxicity with an IC50 of 12.6 +/- 0.4 micrograms/ml for the two fuels. Comparison of H4IIE and NIH/3T3 toxicity to JP-8 revealed that NIH/3T3 cells were more sensitive to JP-8 than H4IIE cells, with an IC50 8.5 +/- 0.1 micrograms/ml. JP-8 exposure for the hippocampal neurons proved to be highly toxic (IC50 of < 2 micrograms/ml), while in contrast, the NG108-15 cells were much less sensitive. Electrophysiological examination of NG108-15 cells showed that administration of JP-8 at 1 microgram/ml did not alter significantly any of the electrophysiological properties. However, exposure to JP-8 at 10 micrograms/ml during a current stimulus of +46 pA decreased the amplitude of the action potential to 83 +/- 7% (n = 4), the rate of rise, dV/dtMAX to 50 +/- 8% (n = 4), and the spiking rate to 25 +/- 11% (n = 4) of the corresponding control levels. These results demonstrate JP-8 induced cytotoxic varies among cell types. The possible mechanisms underlying these observations are presented.