Introduction: The main histological form of bladder cancer is transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) which is considered as the second most common urological malignancy after prostate cancer. Although various therapeutic options are available for bladder cancer management, this malignancy shows resistance to common chemotherapy regimes. Therefore, there is a great tendency to find new and effective compounds with anti-tumour properties to treat this cancer. The aim of present study was to evaluate the toxicity of 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole, a compound synthetised by several reactions 5637 cells, a subline of bladder transitional cell by MTT assay. Methods: To determine the IC50 of the compound, 5637 cells were treated with various concentrations (10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 μg/ml) of 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1Hbenzo[ d]imidazole and examined for 24, 48 and 72 hours. In order to exclude the background toxic effects of DMSO, which was used as the compound solvent, the control treatments were also run with equivalent amounts of DMSO. Results: The results of MTT test, which is based on the activity of mitochondrial enzymes in living cells, revealed that the IC50 of 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1Hbenzo[ d]imidazole on 5637 cells were 120, 125 and 50 μg/ml after 24, 48 and 72 h of its administration, respectively. Morphological observations have also showed that in comparison with control cultures, prominent cytoplasmic granulations were common in treated cells, spacially72 hours after treatment with 50 μg/ml of the compound. Conclusions: 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole is a synthetic compound that showed cytotoxic effects on bladder carcinoma cells. Further studies are .required to investigate the mechanism of this toxicity and also to check possible anti- cancer effects of these compounds both in vitro and in vivo.

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