Assessment of silver-coated urinary catheter toxicity by cell culture.

The toxicity of silver-coated urinary catheters was assessed using a cell culture technique. The inhibitory effect of catheter extracts on the uptake of 3H-labelled thymidine by mouse fibroblasts was measured. The results show that silver-coating had no toxic effect whereas silvernitrate and silversulphate coating did have a toxic effect.