Evaluation of the Cytotoxicity of 18 Compounds in Six Rat Cell Lines

Abstract

A comparison of the potential of different cell lines as a screening system for predicting general toxicity was made by measuring the cytotoxicities (CT50) of 18 compounds in six rat cell lines. The criterion for cytotoxicity was failure of the cells to attach to the substratum, which was assessed at two incubation times: 24 hours and 7 days (168 hours).

For nine of the compounds tested, an increased incubation time resulted in increased cytotoxicity; in these cases, the CT50 values at 168 hours were lower than those at 24 hours. For the majority of the compounds, the CT50 values obtained using liver, lung, intestine, kidney, heart or skin rat cell lines did not differ markedly from one line to another.

These results are discussed in terms of the similar in vitro susceptibilities of different cell types obtained from the same species.