New toxicity determination method that uses fluorescent assay of Escherichia coli.

We describe a new method that uses a fluorogenic bioassay of the β-glucuronidase conversion of 4-methylumbelliferyl β-D-glucuronide (MUG) to 4-methylumbelliferone to evaluate the individual toxic effects on Escherichia coli of Al 3+ , Cr 6+ , Hg 2+ and Li + . This work was designed to examine the effectiveness of this method to measure the effects of five ionic concentrations of either Al 3+ , Cr 6+ , Hg 2+ or Li + , on the growth of E. coli in a minimal medium that had MUG as the only source of carbon