Apoptosis and cytotoxicity of oligo(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)-modified montmorillonite

To evaluate the cytotoxic effect and the mechanism of the apoptosis of oligo(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)-modified montmorillonite (PSAN-MMT), the present study is focused on the involvement of anti-proliferation, lactate dehydrogenase release, apoptosis level, caspase 3 activity, transcriptional activity of apoptosis-related gene and apoptosis-related protein and mRNA level. Non-cytotoxic montmorillonite (MMT) incubated cells were used as control. Little cytotoxicity was observed in PSAN-MMT treated cells, and lower level of apoptosis was induced by PSAN-MMT when cells were incubated with high montmorillonite content (1 g/L). The apoptosis seemed to follow a transcription-dependent route by activating proapoptotic genes such as p53 and p21. The modified MMT could be a promising candidate of biosafety controlled-release carrier for large drug molecules and for gene delivery.