When assessing the toxicity of chemicals and environmental samples, the metabolism of mammals must also be taken into account. For example, in vitro tests with bacteria instead of living animals are used to investigate DNA base changes or structural/numerical chromosome changes caused by chemicals. However, so far none of these tests can do without animal livers. With the aid of enzymes from rat livers (S9 mix), metabolism in the cell cultures is metabolism in the cell cultures. To do this, the rodents are poisoned with the substance Arochlor 1254, which was previously used, for example, as a flame retardant. The animals are then killed and their livers removed for the isolation of an enzyme.

The Frankfurt researchers examined the performance of the animals' liver enzyme fraction in comparison and found that there are serious deficiencies in the metabolic capacity, even differences within the same rat strain. They subsequently bioengineered a substitute for the enzyme mix (ewoS9R9).

Other cell culture nutrient solutions containing animal components, such as the fetal calf serum (FCS) obtained from killed bovine fetuses, should also be replaced. To achieve this, the researchers are working together with Prof. Beate Escher of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig and the companies BiodetectionsSystems from Amsterdam and Scinora from Heidelberg.

In the first phase, the funding amounts to 100,000 British pounds, which is equivalent to around 114,000 euros.

Source:
https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/forschung/goethe-uni-erfolgreich-bei-industrie-ausschreibung-fuer-ersatz-von-tierischen-komponenten/