Toxkit microbiotests make use of “dormant” or “immobilized” life stages of the test biota which can be stored for long periods of time and “hatched” or “set free” to provide the organisms for immediate test performance.
Test biota of uniform size and age, and in good physiological condition hence become available “on demand” without any need for the highly specialized equipment, infrastructure know how and costs which are inherent to the culture and maintenance of live stocks.
The Toxkit microbiotests are miniaturized in handy kits which, besides the dormant or immobilized test species, also contain the test containers, the media and the materials to carry out several complete bioassays. T
Test performance requires little bench space and incubator space and does not require sophisticated laboratory equipment.
A whole battery of acute and short-chronic Toxkit microbiotests is available with a range of test biota belonging to different phylogenetic groups and trophic levels, comprising bacteria, microalgae, ciliate protozoans, rotifers , crustaceans and higher plants.
Toxkit microbiotests are available for analysis of freshwater, wastewater, sediments, seawater, estuaries, soils, solid wastes and pure chemicals
Only low-cost equipment is needed for performance of Toxkit microbiotests.
A list of specific and robust equipment for performance of specific Toxkit microbiotests is described in the section Toxkit equipment (click here)
All individual parts of the Toxkits : i.e. the biological material, the test containers, the media, the foods, the micropipettes, etc … can also be purchased separately.
Several Toxkit microbiotests make use of the same species as the “conventional” toxicity tests prescribed by environmental legislations at national and international levels.
The Toxkit testing procedures have been structured so that they fully comply with the test methodologies of regulatory bioassays and the assays are hence conform with national or international standards (ISO, OECD, ASTM)
A substantial number of studies performed independently in several laboratories from different countries have shown that Toxkit microbiotests are as sensitive as “conventional” tests performed with test species originating from laboratory cultures and give equivalent results
Since all individual Toxkits contain the same materials (biological as well as others), and since the simple testing procedures are very clearly documented down to the last detail, the repeatability and the reproducibility of these small-scale bioassays is substantially better than that of the corresponding “conventional” toxicity tests.
The precision of several Toxkit microbiotests has been determined by International Interlaboratory Comparisons with participants from many countries.
Extensive reports on these international interlaboratory ringtests can be found in the section Publications/Extensive Reports on Toxkit microbiotests (click here)
oxkit microbiotests are used for a wide range of applications for fundamental and applied research and for toxicity monitoring, presently in 45 countries over the world.
Publications and reports on specific applications can be found in the section Publications (click here)
