Elimination ofM. hyorhinis from murine neuroblastoma cell lines by in vivo passage

Summary Cell lines derived from a murine neuroblastoma, Clone N18, were cured of theirM. hyorhinis infection by in vivo passage. The major variable determining success of this method was found to be the incubation time in vivo. Infected cells maintained in vivo for 27 d or more and then placed in culture were free of mycoplasma whereas those maintained in vivo for 7 or 14 d were found to still be infected. This approach to eliminating mycoplasma infection may be successful using other tumor cell lines. This work was supported in part by Grants ES01530, GM24592, and GM26167 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.