DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention is an assay method for the detection of non-genotoxic or epigenetic substances via a shortterm in vitro methodology utilizing mammalian cells in monolayer cultures.
The assay system relies upon the identification of cytoskeleton perturbation as the specific means of identifying those substances which manifest cellular injury using a mechanism not involving alteration or modification of the genetic material, directly or indirectly.
The cytoskeleton collectively refers to a complex network of cytoplasmic filamentous structures consisting of three major components: microtubules (hereinafter "MT"), intermediate filaments (hereinafter "IF") and microfilaments (hereinafter "MF").
The existence of these cytoskeletal constituents, their distribution, and their organization and function within the cytoplasm of the cell in terms of their role in regulating cellular morphology and shape, motility, mobility of surface receptors, internal organization of the cell, and other functions is well known to cellular and molecular biologists and biochemists [Cell Motility (Goldman et al.
, Editors), Cold Spring Harbor Conferences on Cell Proliferation, Books A,B,C, 1976; Organization of the Cytoplasm, Cold Spring Harbor Symposium Quantitative Biology, Vol.
46, Cold Spring Harbor, 1981; Lazarides, Ann.
Rev.
Biochem.
51:219-250 (1982)].
The role of these cytoskeleton elements as intracellular structures for the control and continuity of cytoplasmic organelles and membrane components of the cell surface has been the traditional focus of investigators [Hynes, Cell Surface Reviews 7:97-136 (1981); Hynes and Destree, Cell 15:875-886 (1978); Heggeness et al.
,Ann.
N.
Y.
Acad.
Sci.
312:414-417 (1978)].
The present assay method utilizes the disruption of these cytoskeleton elements as determined by microscopic observation as the useful and reliable end point in a cellular toxicity assay for the screening of hazardous and/or toxic chemicals and other epigenetic substances
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Molecular Biology 
