The Use of Ciprofloxacin for Decontamination of LSCC-H 32 Cell Line of Chicken Embryonal Fibroblasts Contaminated by Mycoplasma arginini

Cells of line LSCC-N 32 of chicken embryonal fibroblasts contaminated by Mycoplasma arginini were decontaminated by culture in a medium supplemented with 10 mu g per ml of ciprofloxacin during 10 passages (42 days). During another 30 passages (112 days) in an antibiotic-free medium no mycoplasmas were detected in repeated examination by the fluorescence method, culture in a liquid medium supplemented with glucose, urea or arginine, culture in a solid medium or by scanning electron microscopy. Decontamination by ciprofloxacin neither changed morphological properties of cells nor increased number of aberrant mitoses. The LSCC-H 32 cells, decontaminated by ciprofloxacin, showed on day 5 of culture by 51.2% higher proliferation index compared with cells of the same line contaminated by M. arginini.