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. 1967 Jan;93(1):15–20. doi: 10.1128/jb.93.1.15-20.1967

In Vitro Assay of Endotoxin by the Inhibition of Macrophage Migration

Dorothy H Heilman 1, Robert C Bast Jr 1
PMCID: PMC314961  PMID: 5335889

Abstract

A quantitative in vitro technique was used to compare the ability of different endotoxins to inhibit the migration of macrophages from explants of rabbit spleen cultured in a coagulated plasma medium. The order of potency was different from that observed in chick embryo assays, and in assays with mice, of the same endotoxins. In general, however, the sensitivity of the macrophage inhibition test was comparable to that of other bioassay methods. A highly purified endotoxin from Salmonella enteritidis (Ribi) in a concentration of 0.004 μg/ml regularly inhibited macrophage migration. The in vitro method was used to detect a progressive loss of biological activity in fractions obtained during acid hydrolysis of the purified endotoxin. The selective toxicity of very low concentrations of endotoxin for mammalian macrophages was important in estimating the degree of specificity of the reaction. The pattern of cellular response in explant cultures made it possible to differentiate endotoxic damage from the specific cytotoxic action of antigen associated with delayed hypersensitivity.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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