Cytotoxicity of drugs and diverse chemical agents to cell cultures.

Two tissue culture methods and 5 cell lines were compared in measuring the values of cytotoxicity 50 per cent (CT50) and CT0 of 40 different drugs and 25 diverse chemical compounds. The CT50 values obtained under each cell culture technique used did not show significant differences. There were marked differences in cytotoxicity and dose responses of the chemical compounds could be assigned to 3 categories, and the compounds tested were differentiated into 3 classes. The importance of the dose response to studies in viral chemotherapy is stressed, and the ability of CT50 and CT0 in other fields of biomedical research is discussed.