Introduction. In the development of regenerative medicine, an important role is designated to the search of nontoxic and biocompatible compounds to be used in cell treatment of skin injuries. We assume that compounds used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, such as Natrosol 250 MR, Stabileze QM, Carbopol ultrez 20, sodium azide, thimerosal and glycerol, could be applied in cell technologies as well.
Materials and methods. The cytotoxicity of the compounds tested in our study was assessed by estimating spleen and bone marrow cell viability in light microscopy, using the trypan blue exclusion test.
Results. After treatment of primary cell cultures with Natrosol 250 MR, Stabileze QM, Carbopol ultrez 20, sodium azide and glycerol, the viability of cells was found to be decreased by 1–8%, while thimerosal caused death in 71–74% of these cells.
Conclusions. Our studies revealed that these gel-forming polymers are not toxic to bone marrow and spleen cells. They may slightly, if at all, influence the viability of cells. Furthermore, the use of the preservative sodium azide and glycerol in the development of cell culture technologies was proven to be quite acceptable. However, thimerosal cannot be applied in these technologies because of its high toxicity.

Keywords: cytotoxicity, gel-forming polymers, mouse bone marrow and spleen cells