ABSTRACT
388Mammalian cells may serve as targets in a wide variety of pharmacological tests designed to assess the capability of a chemical agent to produce general toxicity or changes in macromolecular biosynthesis, differentiated function, or morphology. Cell cultures may also be employed in more complex mechanisms of action studies, as well as in the chronic toxicity tests for mutagenicity and carcinogenesis. A review of all the methods workable in mammalian cell systems for the evaluation of antibiotics is beyond the scope of this chapter and methods useful for defining the mechanism of action of drugs too numerous and too limited in application to present in this chapter. Whatever the course of investigation followed for the characterization of a compound, the methods cited here provide a sound foundation for secondary studies.
