Tranexamic acid is toxic on human chondrocytes, in vitro

Benjamin Jacob; Nadja Kloss; Sabrina Böhle; Julia Kirschberg; Timo Zippelius; Markus Heinecke; Georg Matziolis; Eric Röhner

doi:10.1016/j.jor.2019.12.008

Tranexamic acid is toxic on human chondrocytes, in vitro

J Orthop. 2019 Dec 19:20:1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2019.12.008. eCollection 2020 Jul-Aug.

Authors

Benjamin Jacob¹, Nadja Kloss¹, Sabrina Böhle¹, Julia Kirschberg¹, Timo Zippelius¹, Markus Heinecke¹, Georg Matziolis¹, Eric Röhner¹

Affiliation

¹ Orthopaedic Professorship of the University Hospital Jena, Orthopaedic Department of the Waldkliniken Eisenberg, 07607, Eisenberg, Germany.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine toxic effects of tranexamic acid (TXA) on the viability of human chondrocytes. Our hypothesis was that TXA damages human chondrocytes. Chondrocytes were cultured from donated human knee joints. TXA was added to these cultures. Toxicity were analyzed by using LDH und XTT Elisa assays, light microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. The results show that TXA damages human chondrocytes in vitro. We cannot recommend the use of TXA in hemiarthroplasty of the hip or unicompartmental knee arthroplasty in higher concentrations.

Keywords: Cell damage; Human chondrocytes; Toxicity; Tranexamic acid; Viability.