Use of Lymphoblastoid Namalva Cell Cultures in a Toxicity Test. Application to the Monitoring of Detoxification Procedures for Fluorocarbons to be used as Intravascular Oxygen-Carriers.

Cultures of lymphoblastoid Namalva cells have been used to check the absence of toxic impurities in fluorocarbons destined for biomedical applications. The test comprises the measurement of growth rate and viability in the presence of the fluorocarbon, and of growth after reseeding. It was used to establish a procedure for the detoxification of a family of fluorocarbons by evaluating the effect on toxicity of a series of individual or combined treatments. A convenient, rapid and industrially feasible procedure was developed which includes washing with 10 % aqueous KOH, shaking with charcoal and filtration over alumina.