Figure 2

Toxic effects caused to cervical tissue following compound treatment. Ectocervical explants were exposed to compounds for 2 or 24 hours. Explant viability was then determined using the principle of MTT dye reduction as described in the Methods section. % viability was calculated per mg tissue comparing compound-treated explants to unexposed controls. Compounds tested were A) PRO 2000; B) Dextrin sulphate; and C) Nonoxynol-9. Data represent the mean ± SEM of n = 4 (PRO 2000), 2 (Dextrin sulphate) or 7 (Nonoxynol-9) independent donors where each condition was tested in triplicate. Inserted figures represent the mean ± SEM 50% toxic dose (TD₅₀) following compound treatment for 2 (● solid line) or 24 (□ dotted line) hours.