Test-Mate™ assay

Test-Mate Assay In addition to the laboratory-based methodologies, a field deployable unit is commercially available, the Test-mate ChE system (EQM Research Inc., Cincinnati, OH). This method is also based on the Ellman procedure and is supplied as a kit containing reagents to separately measure erythrocyte AChE and plasma-BChE with a battery-operated, photometric analyzer (Taylor et al., 2003). A specific serum BChE inhibitor (As 1397, or 10-(oi-diethylaminopropionyl)-phenothia-zone) is included in the kit and is required to measure AChE (after a period of incubation). Two capillary... 

The basis for the standard method for determining blood (ChE) inhibition is the measurement of the enzymatic products derived when either acetylcholine or acetylthiocholine are used as substrates. The rate of formation of acetate is measured by changes in pH, while the formation of thiocholine is determined colorimetrically. A portable device utilizing this method, the Test-Mate OP Kit (EQM Research Incorporated, 2585 Montana Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45211), provides a rapid, reasonably sensitive assay for ChE inhibition following OP exposure. The kit should be appropriate for emergency contingencies, and only very small blood samples are required. Military forces are viewing such a portable kit as a means to screen... 

Carmichael J, DeGraff WG, Gazdar AF et al. (1987) Evaluation of a tetrazolium-based semiauto-mated colorimetric assay assessment of chemosensitivity testing. Cancer Res. 47 936-942. 

Dominant lethal assays in mice were performed using o- and p-cresols. Male mice were given a single dose of o-cresol (0, 75, 250, or 750 mg/kg) or p- cresol (0, 100, 275, or 550 mg/kg) by gavage in corn oil and mated to untreated females in order to assess dominant lethal effects. The matings were continued for 6 weeks so that all stages of male germ cell development were tested. 

Non-Jewish. Because Ashkenazi Jews tend to partner with others from their ethnic group, the mutation spectrum for common hereditary disease is often confined within that population. Mating tendencies cause certain alleles to become more prevalent within the inbred population than in the country as a whole. Therefore, mutation coverage and risk-reduction statistics are specific for a particular ethnicity. As a consequence, an Ashkenazi Jewish individual with a negative CF test by DNA and no family history has a significantly diminished risk of being a carrier (1/801) compared with a Caucasian non-Jew (1/241) with the same assay result. 

Vitamin E-deficient female animals suffer death and resorption of the fetuses. This was the basis of the original biological assay of the vitamin female rats were maintained for 2 to 3 months on a vitamin E-free diet and then mated. Impregnation and implantation proceed normally but, if they are not provided with vitamin E, the fetuses die and are resorbed. Five days after mating, the animals were killed, and the number of surviving fetuses gave an index of the biological activity of the test compound, relative to standard doses of a-tocopherol. Synthetic antioxidants can replace vitamin E for this function, but selenium cannot. 

The mouse preimplantation assay (MEPA) uses zygotes recovered from mated females, cultured in vitro for 7-10 days to assess embryo development, hatching, and survival that represent the toxicological endpoints [19]. The test is capable to assess toxic effects on preimplantation embryo development and survival in vitro up to hatching, a stage that precedes in vivo embryo implantation. It is a commercially available test, but still it has not been standardized and transferability to other laboratories must be addressed. 

The heritable translocation test, although similar in some respects to the dominant lethal test, differs in that the offspring of the treated males are allowed to reach maturity and are thus available for C3ftologic determination of the type of chromosomal aberration inherited. In this assay treated males are mated weekly to different females over an 8 week period as is done in the domi-... 

---