An assay for quantifying viability in lyophilized BCG vaccine by determining intracellular ATP content was modified and optimized. ATP content was assayed by measuring bioluminescence signal in the presence of ATP- reagent (luciferin/luciferase). In comparison with the ATP-method published before, we changed conditions of lyophilized BCG reconstitution and pre-incubation, as well as that of the ATP extraction. It permitted to decrease the duration of the assay procedure from 36 to 2 hours and to make the assay more simple and suitable for practical application. A high correlation between ATP content and the viable count (CFU) was found.
bioluminescence, ATP assay, cell viability, lyophilised BCG vaccine
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