A NEW METHOD FOR BIOLOGICAL ASSAY OF ENDOTOXIN USING CHANGE IN PERIPHERAL LEUKOCYTE POPULATION IN MICE AS A RESPONSE

Abstract

A biological assay method using change in peripheral leukocyte population in mice as a response to toxic activity of endotoxin has been developed for quantitative determination of endotoxin. The method is relatively easy to perform, fairly precise and satisfactorily reproducible in estimation and sufficiently sensitive for detecting relatively small amounts. A particular advantage is that the assay can be completed within a few hours.There has been a fairly good correlation between the toxicity estimated by the method and the pyrogenicity for rabbits with several kinds of biological products. The relative toxicities of some bacterial vaccines were also estimated by the method.