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Assessment of chemical carcinogen-induced transforming activity using BALB/c-3T3 cells

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Journal of tissue culture methods

Summary

The BALB/c-3T3 cell transformation assay evaluates the morphologic transforming potential of test chemicals using cultured mammalian cells as targets. The assay is semiquantitative and employs a contact-inhibited clone of cells derived from the original BALB/c-3T3 mouse cell line. Transforming activity, or a focus, is recognized as a dense layer of morphologically altered cells superimposed on a monolayer of the normal cell phenotype. The induction of transforming activity in a standard assay has been reported to correlate well with the carcinogenicity of many test chemicals in rodent bioassay; however, the standard assay does not detect carcinogens of all chemical classes. This report describes an operational protocol for the standard BALB/c-3T3 cell transformation assay. In addition, it provides assay acceptance criteria and a discussion of a method to evaluate transforming activity data.

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  1. Department of Genetic Toxicology, Hazleton Laboratories America, Inc., 5516 Nicholson Lane, 20895, Kensington, MD

    Edwin J. Matthews

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  1. Edwin J. Matthews
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Matthews, E.J. Assessment of chemical carcinogen-induced transforming activity using BALB/c-3T3 cells. Journal of Tissue Culture Methods 10, 157–164 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01405078

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