[Detection of Clostridium perfringens toxins on cell cultures]

An important prerequisite for the possible application of cell culture systems as an in vitro method for the potency test of C. perfringens vaccines is the detection of cytotoxic effects of non-neutralized toxins on cell cultures. For this purpose eight cell lines were investigated in terms of the sensitivity to toxins using microscopy and the MTT assay. The results suggest that the MDCK cell line is a sensitive and specific detection system for epsilon-toxin. The VERO cell line is a suitable indicator for the detection of beta-toxin. Another task was the selection of a sensitive method for the analysis of cytotoxic effects of the toxins used. The neutral red and the tetrazolium-(MTT)-assays were compared for three cell lines (MDCK, FBTR, MA 104). The MTT assay was proved to be the optimal test system under our conditions.