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Abstract
A number of studies reported that the MTS in vitro cytotoxicity assay is a convenient
method for assessing cell viability. The main features found with this assay are its
ease of use, accuracy and rapid indication of toxicity. It might well be a useful
tool in human health risk assessment if it can be shown that this assay also has an
acceptable sensitivity and specificity. This is of interest particularly when exposure
to unknown chemical substances requires the rapid detection and evaluation of toxic
effects. In this study, the cytotoxicity of 20 chemicals selected from the MEIC priority
list was determined with the MTS assay. Since it could be shown that interactions
between detection reagents and test chemicals might influence the results of this
assay, preliminary experiments were carried out such that artifactual results due
to test chemical interference could be excluded from this study. IC50 (50% inhibitory
concentration) were established for each test chemical in two human cell lines (F1-73
and HeLa) and later compared with published toxicity data of the same chemicals established
with in vitro and in vivo toxicological test systems. Direct comparisons of the data
showed a generally lower sensitivity of the MTS assay, which is influenced by biological
test organisms, cell type and exposure time. In terms of the specificity of the MTS
assay, the results showed a good correlation between data obtained with the MTS assay
and published data. The lowest correlation was found when the MTS assay was compared
with in vivo studies, however, this finding corresponds well with other published
in vitro-in vivo correlations. The highest correlation was found when the MTS assay
was compared with test systems using human cell lines or exposure times of 3-24 h.
Since the sensitivity of the MTS assay might be increased using different cell types
or by extended incubation, this assay is found to provide ideal features of a good
measurement system that might also be used for on site toxicological assessments.