Testing of pesticide toxicity in tissue culture.

The effect of pesticides on cell growth and on the cell layer was examined. The pesticides under study had a similar toxicity for the cell suspension and for the cell layer. Vital staining of the cells allowed a more sensitive determination of the cytotoxic concentrations than did the studies on cell morphology without staining. No correlation was found between the cytotoxic concentrations and LD50 values of mammals. The results were compared with those of earlier experiments on rats in which methods of general toxicology and neurotoxicology were applied. Of the eight compounds tested, in six the tissue culture method proved even more sensitive than did the functional neurotoxicological tests. It is suggested that the in vitro method with cultured cells should be used to complement in vivo functional toxicological procedures.