H. Segner et G. Schuurmann, CYTOTOXICITY OF MEIC CHEMICALS TO RAINBOW-TROUT R1 CELL-LINE AND MULTIVARIATE COMPARISON WITH ECOTOXICITY TESTS, ATLA. Alternatives to laboratory animals, 25(3), 1997, pp. 331-338
The cytotoxic effects of the first ten chemicals from the Multicenter
Evaluation of ln Vitro Cytotoxicity (MEIC) programme on the fibroblast
-like R1 cell line, derived from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss),
were measured by using three endpoints: cell attachment (24-hour expos
ure, crystal violet protein stain); cell viability (24-hour exposure,
neutral red uptake cytotoxicity assay); and cell growth (144-hour expo
sure, crystal violet protein stain). The results were compared with pu
blished MEIC toxicity data from fish and mammalian cells, and from eco
toxicity tests with bacteria, invertebrates and plants by using multiv
ariate statistical techniques. For eight of the ten compounds under co
nsideration, a high degree of correlation in toxicity ranking between
the various bioassays was observed, irrespective of the test systems o
r endpoints utilised. This similarity might be explained by the basal
cytotoxicity concept. The 20% dissimilarity of the results, however, i
ndicates the influence of test system-specific or endpoint-specific se
nsitivities.