Mycoplasma in tissue culture: overview of detection methods

Mycoplasma contamination of tissue cultures is too costly, scientifically damaging and inappropriate, and perhaps, even medically hazardous to be ignored. Prevention by continuous surveillance demands adequate mycoplasma testing procedures. Despite a proliferation of indirect methods, the present consensus indicates that careful and extensive microbiological testing is still the cornerstone of any mycoplasma detection program. The finding of 'non-cultivable' or possible tissue-adapted micro-organisms plus the variability in microbiological expertise of many laboratories, makes the selection of at least one additional method imperative. At the present, though no one test will prove 100% satisfactory and selection should partly depend on available expertise, the method based on the ratio of the specific activities of incorporated radio-labelled uridine to uracil into RNA appears to be an acceptable choice due to its simplicity and general validity.