TOXICITY SCREENING METHOD

摘要

A toxicity screening method is a method for determining whether or not a compound of interest is metabolized with a drug-metabolizing enzyme in the liver to cause toxicity. The method comprises the steps of: culturing multiple hepatocytes three-dimensionally (e.g., producing agglomerates); bringing each of the hepatocyte into contact with each of a first solution that does not contain the compound of interest, a second solution that contains the compound of interest, and a third solution that contains both at least one compound capable of inhibiting a drug-metabolizing enzyme reaction and the compound of interest, thereby obtaining multiple hepatocytes that have been contacted respectively with the different solutions; bringing the multiple hepatocytes into contact with a solution containing a fluorescent probe capable of recognizing living cells or a fluorescent probe capable of recognizing dead cells; and obtaining fluorescently stained images using the multiple hepatocytes that are stained, and then determining the presence of toxicity of the compound of interest on the basis of the data of the fluorescently stained images.