In vitro phagocytosis by earthworm Lumbricus terrestris coelomocytes: An assay for terrestrial toxicity identification

In vitro viability, or cell death (V-EC5O) and sublethal phagocytic assays using earthworm Lumbricus terrestris coelomocytes were developed to complement whole worm assays for Terrestrial Identification Evaluation (TIE). In vitro exposures of coelomocytes to chemicals provides a more efficient and sensitive assay than does whole worm exposure. The sublethal assay, using percent suppression of phagocytosis as the endpoint and copper (as CuSO...