For example, even a very low dose of DMSO has a powerful protective effect against paracetamol (acetaminophen)-induced liver injury in mice.In addition to the above, DMSO is finding increased use in manufacturing processes to produce microelectronic devices. It is widely used to strip photoresist in TFT-LCD flat panel displays and advanced packaging applications (such as wafer-level packaging / solder bump patterning). DMSO is an effective paint stripper too, being safer than many of the others such as nitromethane and dichloromethane. Biology
DMSO is used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to inhibit secondary structures in the DNA template or the DNA primers. It is added to the PCR mix before reacting, where it interferes with the self-complementarity of the DNA, minimizing interfering reactions.DMSO in a PCR is applicable for supercoiled plasmids (to relax before amplification) or DNA templates with high GC-content (to decrease thermostability). For example, 10% final concentration of DMSO in the PCR mixture with Phusion decreases primer annealing temperature (i.e. primer melting temperature) by 5.5–6.0 °C (9.9–10.8 °F).It is well known as a reversible cell cycle arrester at phase G1 of human lymphoid cells.DMSO may also be used as a cryoprotectant, added to cell media to reduce ice formation and thereby prevent cell death during the freezing process. Approximately 10% may be used with a slow-freeze method, and the cells may be frozen at −80 °C (−112 °F) or stored in liquid nitrogen safely. In cell culture, DMSO is used to induce differentiation of P19 embryonic carcinoma cells into cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle cells.
Disadvantages to the use of DMSO-d6 are its high viscosity, which broadens signals, and its hygroscopicity, which leads to an overwhelming H2O resonance in the 1H-NMR spectrum. It is often mixed with CDCl3 or CD2Cl2 for lower viscosity and melting points. DMSO is also used to dissolve test compounds in in vitro drug discovery and drug design screening programs, including high-throughput screening programs. This is because it is able to dissolve both polar and nonpolar compounds, can be used to maintain stock solutions of test compounds (important when working with a large chemical library), is readily miscible with water and cell culture media, and has a high boiling point (this improves the accuracy of test compound concentrations by reducing room temperature evaporation). One limitation with DMSO is that it can affect cell line growth and viability, with low DMSO concentrations sometimes stimulating cell growth, and high DMSO concentrations sometimes inhibiting or killing cells.DMSO is used as a vehicle in in vivo studies of test compounds too. It has, for example, been employed as a co-solvent to assist absorption of the flavonol glycoside Icariin in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. As with its use in in vitro studies, DMSO has some limitations in animal models. Pleiotropic effects can occur and, if DMSO control groups are not carefully planned, then solvent effects can falsely be attributed to the prospective drug.