A Rapid Chemical Method for Detecting PPLO Contamination of Tissue Cell Cultures

Abstract
Summary A rapid, simple and routine chemical method for detection of PPLO contamination in cell cultures is reported. The method is based on the presence of arginine deiminase activity in all tissue culture PPLO strains, but absence from all mammalian tissue and PPLO-free cell cultures. In a total of 73 cell cultures examined, the detection of PPLO determined by presence of arginine deiminase activity agreed entirely with the most sensitive cultural procedure which requires 14 days.