Parallel line assays of endotoxins with the LAL chromogenic substrate method

All endotoxins from the gram negative microorganisms studied sofar contain lipid A, which is considered to be responsible for the biological activity. Endotoxins may therefore react in a similar way in quantitative assays. The varying non-lipid A part of different endotoxins may potentiate or reduce the activity of the identical lipid A part without changing the slope of the log-dose vs. response curve of these endotoxins. To test whether 13 endotoxins from different microorganisms react similarly with amoebocyte lysate (LAL) log-dose response curves were made using a chromogenic substrate method. A balanced incomplete block design with 13 blocks and four replications of each endotoxin was applied. A group of eight endotoxins with a common slope was defined with the Student-Newman-Keuls procedure. Two independent potency estimates of these endotoxins were in good agreement.