Background: Since the discovery of the anti-tumor activity of cisplatin, medicinal chemists have synthesized a wide range of metal complexes and examined their potential application toward anti-tumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. Although the metal-complexes show a marvelous effect on current cancer therapy, they are hampered by various side effects, resistance phenomena and limitation in different types of cancer treatments. The current study was designed to investigate the possible anti-tumor and apoptotic activity of metal complexes containing Pt, Pd, Co, Ni.

Materials and Methods: In this study, four metal complexes containing Pt, Pd, Co, Ni were synthesized and applied on (PC12) cancer cells using different concentrations and the MTT and LDH methods were performed to determine apoptosis.

Results: The results demonstrated that Pt (IC50=4.9 µM) substituted complexes were more active than other derivatives such as Pd (IC50=6.5 µM), Ni (IC50=39.5 µM) and Cu (IC50=64.3 µM). However, all these complexes showed LDH and apoptotic activity. Moreover, LDH release was concentration-dependent 200 µM concentration of Pt, Pd, Co, Ni caused 94%, 84%, 64% and 55% LDH release, respectively.

Conclusion: The nature and position of the substituents and the bridging group on the metal ligands play crucial roles in determining the anti-cancer activities of newly synthesized complexes.