Limulus test, parenteral drugs and biological products: an approach

The authors report their experience with the LAL test for endotoxin assay. They have examined parenteral drugs, blood products and biological substances employed in immunology. The results were compared with rabbit pyrogen tests. All the data suggest that if correctly performed, the LAL test is a simple, rapid and sensitive test. This assay appears to be very useful for materials employed in immunology in order to test the possible contamination with bacterial endotoxin, since the interference between endotoxin and immunologic response is well known.