To determine laboratory-to-laboratory variability of the limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) test for evaluating endotoxin content in influenza virus vaccine, a collaborative study was designed. Participants were six influenza virus vaccine manufacturers and the Bureau of Biologics (BoB). Lysate lot 116, Reference Influenza Virus Vaccine for Endotoxin Assay E-1, and four test vaccines having differ...

Horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are bled by biomedical companies for the extraction of Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL), a clotting agent used in the detection of endotoxins. In 1998, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Conunission mandated tliat all biomedical companies collecting horseshoe crabs for the production of LAL study tl1e horseshoe crab mortality rates resulting from the compan...

AIMS Endotoxin detection assays are not validated for use in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). We investigated the accuracy and precision of the kinetic turbidimetric Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) assay to detect endotoxin in plasma from patients with ESKD. Optimisation of endotoxin recovery from plasma using the detergent Tween 80 was also explored. METHODS Plasma samples from 7 patients wi...

In contrast to the detailed descriptions of techniques provided by Larsson, a chapter on the measurement and analysis of acetylcholine written by Israel Hanin takes the form of a brief but comprehensive survey of all of the methods for the quantitation of acetylcholine introduced between 1933 and 1981. Each method presented is referenced and briefly critiqued. This is followed by an article by ...

In this paper we present a particular history of Limulus polyphemus, the horseshoe crab, as a means of expanding on Haraway’s notion of companion species. Drawing on accounts of the horseshoe crab’s role, on the one hand, in work of the Serological Museum at Rutgers University that spanned the 1940s to the 1970s, and, on the other, in the development of the limulus amebocyte lysate test, we tra...

It has been suggested that hemodynamic instability and impaired vascular reactivity during combined ultrafiltration-hemodialysis are related to bioincompatibility factors such as dialysate-derived contaminants or the dialyzer. The study presented here investigated whether vascular reactivity could be improved by the use of sterile dialysate. Forearm vascular resistance and venous tone (measured...

A chromogenic Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay was evaluated as a rapid screening test for the detection of clinically significant gram-negative bacteriuria. The development of a distinctive yellow color after the addition of chromogenic substrate to the Limulus amoebocyte lysate-urine reaction mixture was used to measure greater than or equal to 10(5) gram-negative bacteria per ml. A total of 3...

BACKGROUND Elevated blood endotoxin levels are frequently reported in the dialysis population and are strongly linked with inflammation, a major predictor of mortality. Virtually all studies have employed the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay to detect endotoxin. However this assay is not endotoxin-specific and can be activated by (1→3)-β-glucan (BG), a component of fungal cell walls leadin...

PyroSmart NextGen® is a recombinant cascade reagent (rCR) for the detection and quantification of bacterial endotoxins developed using cloned genes derived from Limulus polyphemus horseshoe crab genome. Requirements use this alternative include analysis analytical performance, method suitability, test result equivalency to amoebocyte lysate (LAL) reagents used in compendial Bacterial Endotoxins...