Greatly improved metabolising system for ToxTracker

5 July 2018 – ToxTracker is an in vitro assay that provides detailed insight into the mode-of-action of genotoxic compounds. The assay is generally performed in the absence and presence of a metabolising system. Metabolic activation of compounds is included following the industry standard by adding S9 rat liver extract. Until recently, ToxTracker adopted the S9 metabolisation protocol as described in the regulatory test guide lines for the in vitro mutation and chromosome damage assays.

We now have tailored the S9-based metabolising system for ToxTracker to significantly enhance in vitro metabolic activation of compounds. By optimising the composition of the metabolising system as well as the exposure conditions, we strongly improved the sensitivity and specificity of the metabolising system for ToxTracker.

Main advantages:

• Increased sensitivity
• Comparable cytotoxicity of compounds in absence and presence of S9
• Detection of oxidative stressed protein damage following metabolic activation
• Increased throughput of the ToxTracker assay
• Significant reduction in S9 usage