Quantitative Spectrophotometric Papergram Assays II: Sparsomycin, A New Antitumor Antibiotic

Abstract

The paper chromatographic characteristics of a new cytotoxic agent, sparsomycin, on a variety of solvent systems are reported. The chromatographic pattern of this antibiotic on Eagle's KB human epidermoid carcinoma cells in agar was found to correlate with the pattern on Bacillus subtilis UC-564. A quantitative papergram assay was developed on agar seeded with B. subtilis and compared statistically with a quantitative papergram assay based on the ultraviolet absorption of sparsomycin. The equivalence of the assay methods was determined by testing the equality of the means of the population of assay values using the pairing technique. The effect of the edges of the papergram on the chromatographic zone and its influence on the ultraviolet assay curve are described. There is a favorable agreement between the assays; however, the ultraviolet method reduces the assay time by 50% in comparison to the biological method. The paper chromatographic characteristics of a new cytotoxic agent, sparsomycin, on a variety of solvent systems are reported. The chromatographic pattern of this antibiotic on Eagle's KB human epidermoid carcinoma cells in agar was found to correlate with the pattern on Bacillus subtilis UC-564. A quantitative papergram assay was developed on agar seeded with B. subtilis and compared statistically with a quantitative papergram assay based on the ultraviolet absorption of sparsomycin. The equivalence of the assay methods was determined by testing the equality of the means of the population of assay values using the pairing technique. The effect of the edges of the papergram on the chromatographic zone and its influence on the ultraviolet assay curve are described. There is a favorable agreement between the assays; however, the ultraviolet method reduces the assay time by 50% in comparison to the biological method.