Bioassay

Bioassay

Bioassay is a shorthand commonly used term for biological assay and is a type of scientific experiment.

Bioassays are typically conducted to measure the effects of a substance on a living . Bioassays may be or . Qualitative bioassays are used for assessing the physical effects of a substance that may not be quantified, such as abnormal development or deformity. An example of a qualitative bioassay includes Arnold Adolph Berthold's famous experiment on castrated chickens. This analysis found that by removing the testes of a chicken, it would not develop into a rooster because the endocrine signals necessary for this process weren't available. Quantitative bioassays involve estimation of the concentration or potency of a substance by measurement of the biological response that it produces. Quantitative bioassays are typically analyzed using the methods of biostatistics.

The use of bioassays include:
# measurement of the pharmacological activity of new or chemically undefined substances
# investigation of the function of endogenous mediators
# determination of the side-effect profile, including the degree of drug toxicity
# measurement of the concentration of known substances (alternatives to the use of whole animals have made this use obsolete)
#Assessing the amount of pollutants being released by a particular source, such as wastewater or urban runoff.

Bioassays are essential in the development of new drugs, and monitoring pollutants in the environment. Environmental bioassays are generally a broad-range survey of toxicity, and a toxicity identification evaluation is conducted to determine what the relevant toxicants are. Although bioassays are beneficial in determining the biological activity within an organism, they can often be time-consuming, laborious, and organism-specific factors may result in data that isn't applicable to others in that species. For these reasons, other biological techniques are often employed, including radioimmunoassays.

See also

* Drug discovery
* Pharmacodynamics
* Pharmacokinetics
* Dilution assay

External links

* [http://www.toxicitylab.com/content/services/toxicity_testing_faq.php#Bioassay What is a bioassay (ToxicityLab.com)?]
* [http://www.nj.gov/dep/oqa/powerpoint/DEPBasicsCourse.ppt Whole Effluent Toxicity Basics (PowerPoint file)]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • bioassay — ioassay n. appraisal of the biological activity of a substance by testing its effect on an organism. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • bioassay — ioassay v. 1 to subject to a bio assay. Syn: bio assay. [WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • bioassay — bioassay. См. биопроба. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • bioassay — ☆ bioassay [bī΄ō as′ā ] n. [ BIO + ASSAY] a technique for determining the power of a drug or other substance by measuring its effects on a test specimen against those of a standard substance …   English World dictionary

  • bioassay — noun Date: 1912 determination of the relative strength of a substance (as a drug) by comparing its effect on a test organism with that of a standard preparation • bioassay transitive verb …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • bioassay — n. /buy oh euh say , as ay/; v. /buy oh euh say /, n., v., bioassayed, bioassaying. n. 1. determination of the biological activity or potency of a substance, as a vitamin or hormone, by testing its effect on the growth of an organism. v.t. 2. to… …   Universalium

  • bioassay — Determination of the potency or concentration of a compound by its effect upon animals, isolated tissues, or microorganisms, as compared with an analysis of its chemical or physical properties. * * * bio·as·say as .ā, a sā n determination of the… …   Medical dictionary

  • bioassay — n. estimation of the activity or potency of a drug or other substance by comparing its effects on living organisms with effects of a preparation of known strength. Bioassay is used to determine the strength of preparations of hormones or other… …   The new mediacal dictionary

  • bioassay — bi•o•as•say n. [[t]ˌbaɪ oʊ əˈseɪ, ˈæs eɪ[/t]] v. [[t]ˌbaɪ oʊ əˈseɪ[/t]] n. 1) lab determination of the biological activity or potency of a substance, as a vitamin or hormone, by testing its effect on the growth of an organism 2) lab to subject to …   From formal English to slang

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