A bioassay procedure of tomatine was examined with animal cell culture
s. To detect tomatine, cytotoxicity assay procedures were applied. Cel
l lines of HepG 2, HuH 6 KK and NIH 3 T 3 were suitable for this purpo
se, but those of HL 60 and U 937 were not. As cytotoxicity detection p
rocedure, alamar blue reduction, chemiluminescence, MTT reduction, WST
-1 reduction and others were examined. The combination of HepG 2 cell
and chemiluminescence method was more suitable for detecting tomatine
than any other ones. It took for 75 min to detect tomatine, and the de
tection limit was 2.5 mg/kg fresh weight. From unripe tomato, 353 mg/k
g of tomatine was detected. From ripe tomato, 5.42 mg/kg of tomatine w
as detected. Tomatine content decreased as tomato fruit became ripe. W
ild type tomatoes such as L. hirsutum and L. peruvianum showed high to
matine contents. Tomatoes and tomato products on the market showed low
tomatine contents. A tomato, introduced tobacco mosaic virus resistan
t factor with genetic engineering, was planted and its tomatine conten
ts was determined. The tomatine content of the recombinant tomato was
the same level as that of its host tomato.